Eagles Were Aligned While Dropping Hints On Star Player

There was "no update" on TE Dallas Goedert at the league meetings unless you were playing attention.

Jan 12, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert (88) against the Green Bay Packers in an NFC wild card game at Lincoln Financial Field. / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

With the calendar turning to April and the NFL draft three weeks away, Eagles GM Howie Roseman's latest update on Dallas Goedert at the league's annual meetings in South Florida was that "there's no update."

There were plenty of bread crumbs, however, with the Philadelphia brass aligning as one when it comes to the star tight end.

The nuts and bolts of the Goedert, 30, situation haven't changed.

The proven veteran is under contract for 2025 but entering the final year of his current deal, and the guaranteed money has dried up. Goedert is set to earn over $15 million if nothing changes and will count over $11 million on the salary cap, the fifth-highest outlay on the team behind quarterback Jalen Hurts and second-team All-Pros A.J. Brown, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata.

From a pure football perspective, Goedert remains the best TE the Eagles have on the roster after an excellent postseason run with no obvious in-house replacement. The depth chart behind Goedert includes 2024 backups Grant Calcaterra and E.J. Jenkins, as well as two bargain free-agent signings in Harrison Bryant and Kylen Granson, and futures signings Nick Muse and Cameron Latu.

That's a lot of bodies but little demonstrated performance and none near the level of a player like Goedert.

Typically, in this kind of contract scenario, a short-term extension needs to be worked out if both sides want to move forward. That template would include the Eagles guaranteeing everything Goedert is projected to make in 2025, along with some extra guaranteed money in 2026 in exchange for lowering the cap number.

That common ground may not be acceptable for either side.

The Eagles have clearly expressed a desire to get younger and rebuild their cash on hand with the understanding of what's coming with contract extensions for younger players like Cam Jurgens, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean. Meanwhile, Goedert may see this as his last opportunity to get big money guaranteed for multiple years.

Multiple league sources have confirmed to Philadelphia Eagles On SI that the Eagles are willing to trade Goedert.

“Obviously, Dallas has been a tremendous player and person for us," Roseman said. "We have a tremendous respect for him in both those regards as a player and a person. The opportunities that we got into free agency with [tight ends] Harrison Bryant and [Kylen] Granson were just opportunities we felt were good for our football team. And certainly Dallas is a unique player.

"Really, that's kind of where we stand on that.”

What's notable here is that Roseman has remained consistently vague about Goedert in an offseason where difficult decisions have had to be made with very good players who don't quite reach the bar of foundational pieces like C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Milton Williams, and Josh Sweat.

Due to his age, cost, and injury history the belief here is that the Eagles also feel Goedert also doesn't reach that bar.

When Jeffrey Lurie was asked about Goedert, the owner may have offered a subliminal hint that confirmed that sentiment when lumping Goedert in with the already departed Gardner-Johnson and Williams.

"It's hard for me because I think you know [I'm] really obsessed with the team, the culture, getting to know the players," Lurie said. "I take them all out to dinner from time to time. This is not a distant relationship. And so whether it's C.J. Gardner-Johnson, or it's Dallas, or it's Milton Williams, or whoever it is, we’ve got to do what we think is best for the franchise in terms of winning big.

"... No different than [former Eagles TE] Zach Ertz. It's the way it is. You've got to balance it all out. And the one thing is, we’ve got to do what we think is best in terms of roster construction, planning, and winning big."

Head coach Nick Sirianni also laid out similar tea leaves.

"Right now he’s on our football team and obviously Dallas Goedert has meant a lot to us,” Sirianni said. “We’ll see how that plays out. He’s a heck of a football player, heck of a leader. Want to be able to bring back as many guys as you can. But that is not the reality of the NFL.

"We’ll see what happens and how that happens."

Turns out there was an update, you just had to look for it.

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