‘The best years are ahead of me’: Dallas Goedert is excited by new Eagles OC Kellen Moore

Dallas Goedert is still in his 20s, but in a lot of ways he has become an elder in the NFL. The 2024 season will be his seventh with the Eagles, who selected him in the second round in the 2018 draft.

Goedert, 29, spent his first few seasons in Philadelphia as the heir apparent to Zach Ertz, who Goedert leaned on as a young NFL tight end. These days, Goedert is the one answering questions from younger players. At last week’s Tight End University — the tight end camp started in 2021 by George Kittle, Travis Kelce, and Greg Olsen in Nashville, Tenn. — Goedert was leaning on some of the game’s greats to try to better himself, but he also played the role of NFL veteran trying to teach the younger group what he has learned during his six years in the league.

“It’s just interesting the young kids come to me and ask me questions,” Goedert said. “What do you see? Why do you do it like that? I’m processing it more, trying to have a good explanation for why I do it.”

Goedert taught the younger tight ends about hand placement while blocking, about running routes a certain way against certain coverages, and more.

There was a little bit of that going on Saturday, though not quite as intense. Goedert this weekend is hosting a two-day camp for boys and girls between first and eighth grades at Drexel Hill Middle School. Goedert and the campers were out early Saturday morning ahead of the worst of the hot summer sun. Goedert signed autographs, slapped hands, and threw some balls to the kids during drills.

“I wanted to give back to the community that gives me so much,” Goedert said.

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After this weekend it’s back to his native South Dakota for a bit before it’s time to return for training camp. The Eagles report to the NovaCare Complex on July 23, and for Goedert, the 2024 season is an interesting one for both him and the Eagles.

Goedert missed five games in 2022 due to a shoulder injury and three games last season after suffering a fractured forearm. In 14 games in 2023, Goedert posted his lowest per-game average in receiving yards since Ertz left the Eagles (42.1 yards per game) and scored just three touchdowns. Full seasons are rare in the NFL, but Goedert hasn’t played one since his 2018 rookie season.

“A lot of my injuries, I’ve been blessed enough, they’ve been in the middle of the season but they’ve only been four or five weeks,” Goedert said. “For me it’s just knowing that I have to do whatever I can do to give back out on the field to help the team because over the last few years we’ve had such good teams with high potentials, high capabilities, I just want to be out there when we achieve all of those for sure.”

The future, however, is a bit unclear as it pertains to Goedert being with the Eagles. At 29, Goedert is older than Ertz was (28) when the Eagles drafted his successor. And while the Eagles, perhaps a bit surprisingly, didn’t draft a tight end this year, Goedert does not have any guaranteed money in 2025, the last year of the four-year, $57 million extension he signed in 2021. Theoretically, it would be easy for the Eagles to move on from Goedert after this season.

“I feel really good,” Goedert said when asked if he felt like he was entering a prove-it or contract year of sorts. “I’m not too worried about it. I love being in Philadelphia. I’m going to give them everything I’ve got and let the chips fall where they may fall.”

» READ MORE: Four lingering questions about the Eagles offense following minicamp

While he was doing some teaching at Tight End U, Goedert said he did learn something important: Olsen reminded Goedert that he didn’t make his first Pro Bowl until his eighth season in the NFL.

“He said his best years came after 31, 32, 33,” Goedert said. “I still feel like the best years are ahead of me.”

In the new-look Eagles offense under new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, Goedert sees the path.

“He’s been doing a great job of just making the offense make sense and we kind of changed up the reads and different things like that throughout,” Goedert said. “I feel like it’ll play in favor of the tight end, the quick game a little bit, getting back to the pivots, the sticks that I caught earlier in my career that went away a little bit.

“I’m really excited for how he uses the tight end and how he feels like they can be a big part of the offense and help win games.”

Even if the tight end is the fourth option. The Eagles have a lot of weapons ahead of him, as Goedert was reminded. Their wide receiver tandem of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith might be the best in the NFL, and they added star running back Saquon Barkley to the mix.

“I’m hoping that all year they double A.J., double Smitty, and they’re worried about Saquon so I can run free down the middle all game long,” Goedert joked.