Many on my social media timeline want to see more of tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, especially now, with Dallas Goedert rehabbing from surgery to repair a fractured forearm suffered on Nov. 5 in the Philadelphia Eagles win over the Dallas Cowboys.
It’s unclear exactly how long the Eagles will need to find the pieces of the puzzle that is Goedert’s absence.
With two days to go until Monday night’s titanic matchup between the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, Goedert had yet to be placed on injured reserve. There’s a chance that he may avoid it because of last week’s bye, meaning he has four weeks to recover with only three games being played.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni gave a glimpse into the tight end’s status on Saturday morning.
“We have high hopes (for his return),” the head coach said. “There’s a reason he’s not on IR, yet.”
So, maybe Goedert returns for the rematch against the Cowboys in Dallas on Dec. 10, and avoids a trip to IR, though with Justin Evans having his 21-day practice window opened to return from IR, a roster spot will need to avail itself at some point.
“It’s never just one guy's responsibility to take all the brunt of that work,” said Sirianni. “It will be by committee. We just don't have another guy like Dallas Goedert sitting around.”
Everyone assumes the tight end targets and snaps will rise. That’s not necessarily the case.
Sirianni said the game plan will change week to week, and there are other ways to cover Goedert’s absence that doesn’t involve tight ends.
One could be Julio Jones, the team’s third receiver. It was last year’s third receiver, Quez Watkins, who picked up some of the slack when Goedert missed five games with a shoulder injury.
Watkins, who is currently on IR and probably a longshot to return if the receiving corps stays healthy, had 18 catches for 128 during Goedert’s absence in 2022, with two of his three touchdowns on the season coming in that span.
“I do whatever is asked of me here,” said Jones. “Nobody is panicking. We have great players here. Whatever my role is what my role is. It’s football. It takes 11 guys to go out there and do what we do.
“For me, there’s nothing I can’t do, or I wouldn’t be playing the game of football right now, so for me, it’s however it comes out.”
The Eagles went 5-0 last year without Goedert, averaging 33 points per game, though the competition then isn't what it will be over these four weeks when the Eagles go to KC, host the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, then go to Dallas.
Maybe it’ll be Okwuegbunam, who had 54 catches for 546 yards and four touchdowns during his three seasons with the Broncos but hasn’t been involved since being traded to the Eagles at the end of training camp.
“I definitely feel I’ll get more opportunities when you go down a guy in your position room, that opens up more opportunity,” said Okwuegbunam. “How big that opportunity is or what it looks like, that’s kind of out of my control, so I’m not really focused on that.
"I just come to practice, come to work every day then prepare like it’s going to be a big role, so when we get to Monday, I’ll be prepared for anything.”
Then there are the other two tight ends – Jack Stoll and Grant Calcaterra, whose roles increased a bit last year when Goedert was out.
Stoll had seven catches for 74 yards in Goedert’s five-game absence. He ended the season with 11 receptions for 123 yards.
Calcaterra has four receptions for 41 yards in those five games and was the bulk of his season’s worth of work, which ended with five catches for 81 yards.
“I’d be lying if I said no to (more targets),” he said, “but as always we’ll do exactly what we’re told to do and do it to the best of our abilities.
"If that means more targets, hopefully, we’ll go out and do that. If it’s blocking, we’ll go block. We’ll just make whatever role we get.”
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