The Eagles Have a Tight End Crisis — And It's Entirely Self-Inflicted

Look, we need to talk about the elephant in the room at the NovaCare Complex. Or, more accurately, the complete absence of tight ends.

Dallas Goedert. Grant Calcaterra. Kylen Granson. All unrestricted free agents. Gone, unless Howie Roseman writes some checks. And right now, the only tight end on the Eagles' roster under contract is Cameron Latu.

Cameron. Latu.

That's not a tight end room. That's a cry for help.

How Did We Get Here?

This didn't happen overnight. The Eagles have been sleepwalking toward this cliff for two years. Goedert was on the trade block for most of the 2025 offseason before finally agreeing to a pay cut just to come back. That should've been the alarm bell. When your best tight end is that close to walking, you start developing a Plan B.

Instead, the Eagles rode Goedert, leaned on Calcaterra in spot duty, and never invested meaningful draft capital or free agent money into the position. Now all three are hitting the market at the same time, and Philly is staring at one of the thinnest tight end rooms in the NFL.

This is a Howie Roseman special — kicking the can down the road until the road ends. And brother, we've hit the dead end.

The Goedert Question

Let's be real: Dallas Goedert at his best is a top-10 tight end in football. The problem is "at his best" has become increasingly rare. Injuries have eaten into his availability, and when he's been on the field, the production has been inconsistent.

The question isn't whether Goedert is talented. He is. The question is whether you pay a 30-year-old tight end coming off a pay cut when you have holes at edge rusher, offensive line questions with Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson both flirting with retirement, and a brand-new offensive coordinator in Sean Mannion trying to install his system.

If Goedert wants top-of-market money, let him walk. If he's willing to come back on a reasonable deal — two years, incentive-laden — then fine, bring him back as a bridge while you develop someone younger. But don't overpay for nostalgia. That's how you end up cap-strapped and mediocre.

Calcaterra Deserved Better

Here's a take that might ruffle some feathers: Grant Calcaterra never got a fair shake in Philadelphia.

The Eagles drafted him in the sixth round in 2022 and then asked him to be a blocking tight end. That's like buying a sports car and only driving it to the grocery store. Calcaterra's skill set was always as a receiver — good hands, clean routes, solid red zone target. But the Eagles kept trying to jam a square peg into a round hole, and now he's walking out the door without ever showing what he could really do in a pass-heavy role.

Some team is going to sign Calcaterra for cheap, put him in a spread offense, and he's going to catch 50 balls. Watch.

The Draft Has Answers — If Howie Looks

The 2026 draft class has some intriguing tight end prospects, and the Eagles need to be aggressive here. Max Klare is a potential target — a big-bodied receiving tight end who draws Zach Ertz comparisons. That's exactly the profile Philly needs.

But here's the thing: you can't just draft one tight end and call it a day. This roster needs at least two additions at the position, whether that's a free agent signing plus a draft pick, or two draft picks if you're going full youth movement.

The tight end position in today's NFL isn't optional. It's not a luxury. Look at what the Lions did with Sam LaPorta. Look at Brock Bowers in Las Vegas. The best offenses in football run through versatile tight ends who can line up everywhere and create mismatches. If Sean Mannion wants to "evolve" this offense — and that's the buzzword Nick Sirianni keeps using — then having a dynamic tight end room isn't just nice to have. It's essential.

The Bigger Picture

This tight end situation is really a symptom of a larger problem: the Eagles have been so focused on maintaining their current window that they've neglected succession planning at multiple positions. The offensive line is aging. The edge rusher room needs bodies. And the tight end position went from a strength to a wasteland in one offseason.

Howie Roseman is one of the best GMs in football at making splashy moves. But roster maintenance — the boring, unsexy work of developing depth and planning for free agent departures — has never been his strongest suit.

The combine is next week. Free agency opens in March. The Eagles have five draft picks and potentially some compensatory selections coming. There's time to fix this. But fixing it requires acknowledging the mess first.

Right now, Cameron Latu is your starting tight end. Let that sink in.

Then do something about it.