A high-level player at his position with demonstrated performance, Goedert is under contract to Philadelphia but the guaranteed money in his deal dried up. That’s a clear signal that foreshadows something needs to be done.
The Eagles signaled they were moving on from Slay, a six-time Pro Bowl cornerback, earlier this week. The door is slightly ajar to a potential return but there are signs that Philadelphia has reached the threshold of pulling the trigger on the upside of the talented Kelee Ringo, who is set to turn 23 in June and about to enter his third NFL season.
Meanwhile, Slay is 34 and will turn 35 on New Year’s Day of 2026 when the Eagles should be preparing for their fifth consecutive playoff run in the Nick Sirianni era.
Goedert is younger than Slay although he has crossed into his thirtysomething years. Ironically, the star tight end will turn 31 two days after Slay. The issue with Goedert is that there is no in-house heir from a projection standpoint.
Meanwhile, few doubt that Goedert has plenty left in the tank especially after watching a sterling postseason run en route to the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX win over Kansas City.
The veteran TE, who will be entering his eighth NFL season in September, had 17 receptions for 215 yards with an amazing 134 of them after contact. There were no drops, an occasional concentration bugaboo for Goedert, and big plays with five of those catches going for 15 yards or more.
Then there’s the understated value of Goedert in that he’s one of the few tight ends who can impact the game in an old-school way. At 6-foot-5 and 256 pounds, Goedert still has the athletic ability to flex and create mismatches in the passing game along with the size and power to block more than competently as an in-line Y on one of the NFL’s most run-heavy offenses.
In house, the Eagles have already signaled the need to upgrade the depth by bringing in former Minnesota backup Nick Muse late in the season and adding failed 2023 San Francisco third-round pick Cameron Latu.
The established in-house options – Grant Calcaterra and E.J. Jenkins – aren’t the answer. Calcaterra would probably produce as a receiver more than most believe, but there is little hope that he could duplicate what Goedert provides in the blocking realm and again, that’s a bigger deal in Philadelphia than perhaps anywhere else.
Right now the Eagles should try to extend Goedert into the 2026 season by guaranteeing his 2025 stipend and adding some extra cash for the next season while drafting the heir apparent in April during what is being sold as a deep TE draft.
However, that’s easier said than done because Goedert understands this is likely his last opportunity for a bigger deal and there could be teams on the outside willing to go to three years at major money.
Outsiders have pointed toward young Las Vegas TE Michael Mayer as a potential option to thread a difficult needle for Roseman.
The former Notre Dame star projects as a two-way TE but was quickly usurped by Brock Bowers in Sin City with an organization with constant change and regimes thinking differently resulting in redundancy at the position.
Even if Mayer is available and the Eagles do want him, the easiest way and maybe the only realistic path is to bring in as the TE2 as the future while moving forward with Goedert in the short term which is complicated from financial and chemistry standpoints.
Zach Ertz wasn’t exactly thrilled when the Eagles drafted Goedert in the second round in 2018 to be the eventual successor at the position.
Flipping from Goedert to Mayer as the TE1 is tricky because the Eagles would have to move Goedert, and that would eat up significant cap space in the form of nearly $9.6 million. After June 1 is more palatable, but the market becomes trickier with bigger contracts after all 32 teams have budgeted and moved forward with their plans for next season.
The hardline-stance option, a favorite of many fans, is the least likely way to go for a well-run organization like Philadelphia. It’s easy to say Goedert is under contract for 2025 and let him play out the season as a lame duck, but the idea is to have productive employees not disgruntled ones.
Even in an instance where a player like Josh Sweat took a pay cut to return to the Eagles last season, he was given something, in the form of an opportunity to hit free agency in an expedited fashion, and next week Sweat will likely cash in after betting on himself.
The only certainty for the Eagles at TE is that they will have to declare their intentions at the position soon.