The one position the Eagles must address most in the NFL Draft to help in 2025
Not every draft is perfect for every team. Like this year, if you’re a team that needs a quarterback, then you’re in trouble because there’s really just one elite prospect: Cam Ward.
Luckily, the 2025 draft is chock-full of players that could help the Philadelphia Eagles with their needs. There are some good safeties, a decent amount of good offensive tackles, and a whole bunch of good edge rushers, defensive tackles, and most importantly, tight ends.
The Eagles need a Dallas Goedert replacement
To be very clear, I’m not trying to say that the Eagles should draft a tight end in the first round. It would be super sick if they did, but they don’t need to. It’s just that this draft class is stacked with tight-end draft prospects, and the Eagles have to prioritize getting one.
Right now, the Eagles' tight end room is Dallas Goedert, Grant Calcaterra, Kylen Granson, and Harrison Bryant. That can change at any moment because it’s becoming clearer and clearer that the Eagles are trying to ship off Goedert.
During the owners’ meetings earlier this week, Nick Sirianni, Howie Roseman, and Jeffrey Lurie were all asked about Goedert and his future with the Eagles. Sirianni gave a Sirianni answer and said, “Right now he’s on our football team, and obviously Dallas Goedert has meant a lot to us. We’ll see how that plays out. He’s a heck of a football player, heck of a leader. We want to be able to have back as many guys as you possibly can, but that’s not the reality of the NFL…”
Howie Roseman said, “...Dallas has been a tremendous player and person for us. 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 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.”
Jeffrey Lurie’s answer was probably the most telling. He was asked whether it would be difficult for him to see Goedert leave the team. Lurie said, “...You know it’s hard for me because I’m so… really obsessed with the team, the culture, getting to know the players… This is not a distant relationship. So whether it’s C.J. Gardner-Johnson, or Dallas, or Milt Williams, or whoever it is, we got to do whatever we think is best for the franchise in terms of winning big. These are not names, these are human beings that we really, really been through battle with, been on the big stage with, and enjoy. You know, no different than Zach Ertz. It’s the way it is…” (25:14 in the video below)
The biggest takeaway from that is that he listed Goedert in between two players who are already gone: one guy who was traded and one guy who was definitely going to leave in free agency. Then he kind of related the situation to Zach Ertz, who was traded away the season that Dallas Goedert took over the TE1 spot.
The Zach Ertz part is relevant in a different way as well because the Eagles had a history of drafting tight ends before their current tight end got old. In 2008, the Eagles drafted Brent Celek when their current tight end L.J. Smith was 28 years old. In 2014, the Eagles drafted Zach Ertz when Brent Celek was 29 years old. In 2018, the Eagles drafted Dallas Goedert when Zach Ertz was 28 years old. Right now, Dallas Goedert is 30 years old, which falls out of that pattern.
For the past two years, I’ve thought that the Eagles were definitely going to draft a tight end to replace Goedert. But now, especially with the Eagles seemingly, mentally already having moved on from him, this would be the year to do it.
This draft has five tight ends who could go in the first two rounds: Tyler Warren from Penn State, Elijah Arroyo from Miami, Colston Loveland from Michigan, Harold Fannin Jr. from Bowling Green, and Mason Taylor from LSU.
If the Eagles don’t pick up one of those premier guys, there are still some good names that can be picked in the later rounds. Guys like Jackson Hawes from Georgia Tech, Terrance Ferguson from Oregon, and even Gunnar Helm from Texas. The point is that there are a lot of options for a Goedert replacement.
Now, you could argue that there are other positions that the Eagles should prioritize over tight end in the draft. You can say that the Eagles still have three other tight ends on their roster, so they can bank on those guys, or that safety and reloading on defense is a bigger concern.
Counterpoint: Vic Fangio almost definitely signed off on the guys that he was losing on defense, which means that he has some level of trust in the young guys who are currently on the roster. If Fangio believes in them, then we believe in them; those are the rules.
We’ve seen Calcaterra, and he’s a good pass catcher, but he’s not a bonafide top-tier all-around tight end like Goedert is. The best way to get a player who has that top-tier upside, and getting him for cheap, is by going through the draft.