Emotional Offseason Ended Well For Eagles Tight End: 'You Could Feel His Presence'

Dallas Goedert admits that his emotions ran the full gamut from excited to disappointed to uncertain. The Eagles' tight end wasn’t ever really sure he would be back for an eighth season with the team that selected him in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

“There were a lot of emotions that went on through the offseason - not sure if you’re gonna be here, not sure if you’re not,” he said on Wednesday as the Eagles continued with their OTAs. “There was sad emotions of leaving, there was the excitement of a change, seeing something different. You go back and forth and try to balance those. I’ve been here seven offseasons and this is the first time I’ve had to deal with it, so I’m pretty lucky. It was an interesting feeling.”

Goedert agreed to a reworked contract on May 7 that will pay him $10 million with another million he can earn via incentives.

“I’ve been very blessed to sign a good contract here,” he said. “At some point, I would not want to play for less. I feel like I know my value, I feel like the Eagles know my value, and just finding something I was OK with, a number I felt excited about and that my time was worth it. There was a threshold I feel I deserved, and we were able to get that done.”

Goedert led the Eagles in catches (17) and yards (215) in their four-game run to another Lombardi Trophy this past season. He has been a steady performer throughout his seven seasons, if not an always reliable one, with injuries striking too often.

Still, he has played 93 games with 76 starts and has made 349 catches for 4,085 yards and 24 touchdowns. He is ranked fourth on the Eagles’ all-time tight list for yards. He should take over third sometime this season, surpassing Pete Retzlaff, who had 4,177. The leader is Zach Ertz (6,267), followed by Brent Celek (4,998).

There’s a chance he could move into second for the most receptions by a tight end in Eagles history. Brent Celek is at 398, which is 49 more ahead of Goedert. Ertz sits atop everyone with 579.

“I’m really excited about this year,” said Goedert. “Obviously, I’d love to play my entire career in Philadelphia but I’m not too worried about that. I’m excited to see what happens this year, I’m excited to put up a really good year, have a successful year with an incredible team and let my agent handle his job and talks after the season. Now, I’m excited to be back, and play this year, and be the best teammate I can be, and let the rest work itself out.”

The way the Eagles spent the offseason finding ways to free up cash for younger players they drafted who will be due extensions soon, the thinking was that Goedert wouldn’t be given the chance to return, and that’s what led to his emotional offseason.

He was happy with the way the Eagles handled it. Not drafting a tight last spring, in a tight end-rich group of prospects, certainly seemed to help Goedert’s cause. So, too did the way the Eagles handled it. The negotiations were never acrimonious, though Goedert didn’t report for phase one of the Eagles' offseason conditioning program that began in April because he didn’t know where he’d be.

“Howie was respectful to me the whole time, talking me through his thoughts and what he thought was best for the organization, the best for me, and it all worked out,” he said. “You look around the league at the way people handle situations. Sometimes it works out for them, sometimes it doesn’t. I love playing football and that’s all I want to do. I’m not too egotistical where I care about being the highest paid or whatever. I just want something that I feel is fair to me.”

Goedert added that he never requested a trade or release.

“When you’re still under contract, you don’t have a lot of control about what other teams can do,” he said. “I was never a free agent, I was never cut, so everything was writing on the wall. You never knew what was true until something happened. But yeah, I’m happy with what happened and I’m happy to be back.”

He’s not the only one. It’s a good thing for Kevin Patullo, who is embarking on his first season as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator.

“Dallas is awesome,” said Patullo. “You could feel his presence out there (Tuesday) just doing our seven-on-seven stuff. So glad to have him back. He brings a unique different style of play to the offense and he’s another weapon to add.”