July 11, 2019
Leading up to training camp, we'll take a look at every player on the Philadelphia Eagles' roster, and how they fit with the team. In case you've missed any of them, you can catch up here.
Today we'll look at the tight ends:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Zach Ertz | Dallas Goedert | Richard Rodgers | Josh Perkins | Will Tye |
In whatever order you'd prefer, Ertz, Travis Kelce, and George Kittle are the three best tight ends in the NFL (personally, I'd go Kelce-Kittle-Ertz). Ertz is now entering his seventh season in the NFL, and if he can break the 800-yard receiving mark like he has in each of the last four seasons, he'll move into fifth place on the Eagles' all-time receiving leader list for yards. He's already third in receptions, and will easily move into second place this season as long as he doesn't have sort of early-season, season-ending injury.
Ertz's two best attributes are his hands and route running ability. Over the last three seasons, Ertz has 268 catches, and we have him down for just 10 drops. It will be interesting to see how Ertz's role expands (and yes, we meant "expands" as opposed to "decreases"), with the emergence of Dallas Goedert. With Goedert on the field, the Eagles' offensive staff can get more creative in moving Ertz all over the formation to create mismatches, while Goedert plays the more traditional tight end role.
In case you missed it, we showed all of Goedert's targets last season, with analysis, and (spoiler alert) he's good. He's already the best blocker on the team, and as a receiver, he has good hands, catches the ball fearlessly in traffic, runs good routes, and gets yards after the catch. It was hard to poke any holes in his game, which is rare for any player, much less a rookie. He has a chance to be special.
Rodgers had a very good training camp and preseason in 2018, but landed on injured reserve with a knee injury suffered in a preseason game. The Eagles reactivated Rodgers after Week 10, but he didn't play much in the regular offense behind Ertz and Goedert, who both stayed healthy down the stretch.
Rodgers was a free agent this offseason, and obviously did not have a strong market, seeing as he had 1 catch for 7 yards in 2018. Still, he's a perfectly cromulent third tight end, and it made sense for the Eagles to bring him back both as a special teams player, as well as insurance for Ertz and Goedert.
In his five-year career, Rodgers, also known as "DickRod," has 121 catches for 1173 yards and 13 TDs. He is also apparently the best baseball player on the team.
Perkins made the team last year after Rodgers got hurt, and he actually filled in at wide receiver after the team suffered a number of injuries there. He had 5 catches and 3 drops.
Over two seasons in 2015 and 2016 with the Giants, Tye actually had 90 catches for 859 yards and 4 TDs. He is among the best fifth tight ends in the NFL.
Every single team in the NFL would trade their tight ends for the Eagles' set of tight ends. Ertz and Goedert are the best one-two tight end combo in the league and have a chance to do great things in 2019.
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