With the 49th pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Dallas Goedert, TE, South Dakota State.
This offseason, at the tight end position, the Eagles lost Trey Burton in free agency and released Brent Celek to save $4 million in cap space. Obviously, Burton and Celek are survived by one of the best receiving tight ends in the NFL in Zach Ertz.
The Eagles' tight end depth chart now looks something like this:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Zach Ertz | Dallas Goedert | Richard Rodgers | Billy Brown | Joshua Perkins | Adam Zaruba |
If there was one position the Eagles were almost certain to select at some point during the 2018 NFL Draft, it was tight end, for two reasons:
- It's an obvious need.
- The tight end class is thought to be a strong group this year, which both Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson stated at the NFL Combine.
At a lower level of college football, Goedert dominated, which is what you would expect of a legitimate NFL prospect. In 2016, Geodert caught 92 passes for 1293 yards and 11 TDs. In 2017, he had 72 catches for 1111 yards and 7 TDs. You'll see in his highlight reel that Goedert has the ability to make outstanding catches:
The most successful teams in the NFL get it done in the red zone. In fact, the top three teams in red zone efficiency last season were the Eagles, Patriots, and Jaguars. I think we can agree all three of those teams had good seasons in 2017. Goedert could be a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses, who already have to contend with covering Alshon Jeffery and Ertz.
If there's one thing that Doug Pederson has proven he is great at, it's forming his offensive schemes around the personnel in place, and Goedert will give the Eagles' offense the flexibility to continue to use two-tight end sets.
MORE: 2018 NFL Draft open thread: Live updates/analysis of second and third rounds | Updated Eagles 2018 NFL Draft board | How does Birds' first-round draft haul compare to similar trades in recent years?
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