Eagles Pushing TE Grant Calcaterra to Reach Potential; Will He Respond?

It's not one of the more obvious competitions entering training camp but the Philadelphia Eagles need a better-receiving option behind Dallas Goedert.

PHILADELPHIA -The Philadelphia Eagles’ Dallas Goedert is one of the better tight ends in the NFL and arguably the best when it comes to marrying the old-school nature of the position where blocking was every bit the prerequisite that catching the football is.

In the more modern spread-and-shred world of the league, the latter is weighted far heavier than the former and it’s a tremendous luxury to have a player at tight end who can produce in-line as a Y-back and also dominate when flexed out.

Behind Goedert, the Eagles need more, particularly from second-year player Grant Calcaterra.

The Eagles’ offense remains one of the most explosive in football, virtually impossible to defend in the passing game when Goedert is on the field with top-tier receivers like A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Philadelphia got a little taste of life without Goedert last season when the sixth-year pro was sidelined for five games with a fractured glenoid bone in his shoulder. The Eagles persevered with backup Jack Stoll getting the majority of the snaps and then-rookie Calcaterra stepping up a bit.

Stoll, who entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Nebraska in 2021, has his playing time spike with Goedert sidelined and he was in for at least 69 percent of the offensive snaps in those five weeks with his high-water mark being 81 percent at Indianapolis.

The Eagles’ offense had to go about things in a different fashion without their star TE1, however, as Stoll, more blocker than receiver, had a total of seven receptions for 74 yards over that stretch, a far cry from the 4.8 receptions for 60.4 yards Goedert had been averaging prior to his injury.

Calcaterra, a 2022 sixth-round pick out of SMU via Oklahoma, had ranged from 10 percent of the offensive snaps to a high of 24 percent as the TE3 before the Goedert injury and that increased to the range of 28 to 57 percent when the starter was sidelined.

More receiver than blocker, Calcaterra, who had just one reception, a 40-yard gash at Washington in Week 3, before the Goedert injury, caught four passes for 41 yards with his increased opportunities.

The silver lining to it all was the Eagles kept winning without Goedert and Stoll, particularly, seemed to earn the trust of star quarterback Jalen Hurts.

While not an overwhelming need, especially when Goedert is healthy, it would have been nice if the Philadelphia backup tight ends produced a little more when given the opportunity.

In the case of Stoll, though, his role is blocking more than receiving and that leaves Calcaterra as the player being pushed, with the heaviest competition coming from free-agent singing Dan Arnold, a rangy six-year veteran who showed off his polished receiving skills in the spring.

Also on hand are developmental project Tyree Jackson, who is now a year-plus off a torn ACL that slowed his momentum, Dalton Keeene, a 2020 third-round pick n New England, and undrafted rookie Brady Russell, the nephew of Matt Russell, the Eagles’ Senior Personnel Director and Advisor to General Manager Howie Roseman.

That group should either push Calcaterra to reach his potential as a receiver or offer enough possibilities for a replacement should the second-year player not respond to the competition.

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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen