Eagles open practice window for oft-injured Dallas Goedert originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles on Wednesday morning opened Dallas Goedert’s practice window, an encouraging development for the veteran tight end’s chances to play in the postseason opener.
Goedert went on Injured Reserve on Dec. 7 after suffering a knee injury in the Eagles’ win over the Ravens on Dec. 1 in Baltimore.
He missed the minimum four games and is now eligible to practice without taking up a spot on the 53-man roster. They have 21 days to activate him or return him to IR, but realistically the decision will be whether to activate him in time to play against the Giants to knock some rust off or activate him for the postseason opener the weekend of Jan. 11-13.
Goedert also missed three games earlier this year with a hamstring injury. He’s missed 22 games because of injuries since 2020.
Will he have a chance to play Sunday in the meaningless game against the Giants to knock off the rust before the playoffs?
“Yeah, we’ll see, it’s hard to tell, you can’t ever really tell,” Nick Sirianni said before practice Wednesday. “We’ll get him back on the field and doing things, start his window.
“It’ll be super important to have him back. He’s a great football player that has helped this team win a lot of football games. So really excited for the possibility to get him back. And, like I said, we’ll see when that happens. But it’s just good to get him back on the field and getting him now practicing again, seeing him out there, because he is a presence for our offense.”
In Goedert’s absence, Grant Calcaterra was the starting tight end and caught five passes for 72 yards these last four games, including a circus one-handed 34-yarder on a 3rd-and-8 early in the win over the Cowboys on Sunday.
Calcaterra played 245 snaps in these four games. The Eagles’ other tight ends — E.J. Jenkins and C.J. Uzomah — played 28 and 93 snaps. Jenkins had one target, but neither had a reception.
In all, Goedert has 38 catches for 441 yards and two touchdowns in nine games this year. Calcaterra, a 6th-round pick in 2022, has career highs with 22 catches for 288 yards and one TD. Six of his 22 receptions have gone for 20 yards or more.
When healthy, Goedert is one of the NFL’s best tight ends. Since 2019, he’s averaged 49 yards per game, 8th-highest of all NFL tight ends during that span. His 8.7 yards per target are 2nd-highest (behind George Kittle), and his 11.8 yards per catch are 9th-highest.
He’s one of only 13 tight ends in NFL history with over 300 catches, over 11.7 yards per catch and over 43 yards per game. His 345 catches since 2018 are most by any Eagle and 7th-most among tight ends.
Goedert, the Eagles’ 2nd-round pick in 2018, is signed through 2025 and turns 30 next month.
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