PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - EMERGENCY POD: Dallas Goedert agrees to re-worked deal with the Eagles to stay in Philadelphia

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

Dallas Goedert is back with the Eagles. The veteran tight end agreed to a deal to remain with the team this season, according to a league source. Goedert was on the trading block throughout the offseason. Zach Berman and Fran Duffy break down the news, what it means for the Eagles, and what it means for Goedert in an emergency episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dallas Goddor is staying with the Eagles. This is an emergency show of the P. H.L.Y. Eagles podcast brought to you by True Mark. I'm sorry. It's brought to you by True Mark Financial Credit Union. I'm Zach Berman here with Fran Duffy. Big news for the Eagles, big news for Dallas Goddard. Much to unpack, Fran. Your initial thoughts, what did you think when you first heard Dallas Goddard staying with Eagles this season? Yeah, I mean, certainly by the time we got it,

through the draft and the Eagles didn't end up with Mason Taylor or Harold Fanon Jr. or Elijah Royo, any of those players that were likely to go off the board, you know, round one, round two, round three. You felt like the likelihood of this coming to this kind of conclusion had only increased, right? And as as days went by, it felt like Dallas got it was going to end up back in Philadelphia here for 2025. And it was probably going to be under the kind of reconstructed deal similar to what we saw with the Eagles last year with Josh Sweat. I know that like, Iron-clad details are still kind of leaking out, but it seems like that's the conclusion that this situation has arrived at.

Exactly. So just to kind of unpack it for Eagles fans, Dallas Goddard was available throughout the offseason. This was not a matter of the way the Eagles evaluated Dallas Goddard as a player. This was a matter of cash. The Eagles owed Dallas Goddard $14.25 million if he was going to be on the team this year. That money was not guaranteed. That was more than the Eagles were going to allocate to Goddard. That was why he was available. There was interest elsewhere, but I think there, you know, there's, it's also a matter of what else is someone willing to pay Goddard. With this restructured deal, Field, EHS reported it from ESPN.

Dallas Goddard's contract comes down from $14.25 million to $10 million. Then there's a chance to earn additional incentives, but Eagles essentially save $4 million in cash here that they can allocate to other players. in contract extensions. This was not a matter of cap for them. This was a matter of cash for them. So this is a resolution. As you said, very similar to Josh Sweat last year, where he comes back.

He's on the team this year. Presumably not on the team next year, but you never know the Eagles could work out, a contract extension. After the draft, you hit it on the head. I thought the best football decision for Dallas Goddard was coming to the Eagles. There was not a team out there,

especially once Tyler Warren goes to the Colts. When Evan Ingram goes to the Broncos, two teams that I heard would be interested in Goddard, that when those situations happened this offseason, there wasn't a team out there where he said it makes sense for Goddard to go there. So this makes sense from a football perspective for Dallas Goddard. As you look at it, this Eagles offense, it's essentially the same, right? You know, the right guards changing. But what does this mean for the Eagles offense to have Goddard back? It's obviously huge. Just to follow up on your point, too, to me, this is the best football decision even going back to the day after the Super Bowl, right? I mean, the best football decision, if we're just talking like purely on-field product was that Dallas Goddard was going to see out the end of his contract here with the Philadelphia Eagles. And I know that the health, the durability has kind of brought that into question at that car, at that salary number that he was at a year ago and what he was due to make here in 2025. But without a suitable, like, every down replacement, that was going to be a tough pill to swallow. They would be a worse offense this fall if it was Grant Calcutera going into camp as the number one tight end.

You didn't have that guy in the lineup. Now, Calcutera filled in admirably last year when Goddard was out for eight plus games. But I think at the end of the day, this was the best football outcome. If you are an Eagles fan, I think you have to be excited about this decision and about this conclusion. Because when Dallas Goddard is on the field, we poke fun with Dan is with his impact on the run game. But certainly this is a better run game when Dallas Goddard is in line. at the point of attack for Sequin Barkley, for Jalen Hertz, and that backfield. And then what he does is a pass catcher.

There's a reason why Nick Siriani always mentions him in the same breath as A.J. Brown and Devante Smith as focal points of this past game. And so his ability to impact both facets of the offense through the air and on the ground, it's what makes him one of the best tight ends in football. It's just the durability has been the major concern over the last few years. As Beau Wilk says in the chat, is there anyone who saw this coming? This is something that Bo predicted. And even going back to the flu world order, Bo expected God, you know, that there could be some type of resolution.

And, you know, even if you try to decipher the Eagles messaging, they were pretty, their approach was almost to act as if Goddard wasn't coming back, right? Which perhaps was intentional there. Now, I do know that from their perspective, they were kind of open to the idea of him not being back. But this this was about the money all along. This was about the money. And it was about kind of the musical chairs of tight ends. And so when some of those seats were filled, it's all right, where's he going to go? Who's going to pay him?

And you're absolutely right. The Eagles also from their end didn't do much to have a plan B. And whether it was Harrison Bryant, whether it was Kyle and Granson, not taking a tight end in the draft, not signing one in the undrafted market. I mean, just from a depth chart perspective, that should indicate that after the draft, especially after night one, night two, like you said, you know, when you don't get Mason Taylor, Harold Fanon doesn't fall to you. When those things happen, it really seems the Eagles pivot was to try to make this work. And from Goddard's end, when you just look at the depth charts elsewhere, you really didn't see a situation where you could say, all right, you know, even if you're not

in that Eagles offense with Jalen Hurts, it's like a comparable situation. So, I don't think the money was there. I don't think the football opportunity was there either. I would be remiss, especially with Bo in the chat, and the chat is clamoring for it. If you have to answer the phone, if that is Jeffrey, you can feel free to answer while you're here on the show.

Did you hear my phone ringing? Sorry. No, and look, I think, again, when you look at the dynamics of this situation, it would not have been a purely football move. I think that when you look at the salary compared with the durability, I mean, that was the big factor here.

but the Eagles, this is a better offense with him on the field. It gives them a little bit of time now to be able to figure out, you know, because we honestly, we talked about this last night. You made the point that, hey, they've got a lot of draft capital in 2026. Could they try and make a move for a veteran tight end at some point here this summer? And we talked about different possibilities. That was during the film room event we held at the studio last night. And obviously, I think that that's probably off the table at this point.

I mean, I guess there's still a chance that they could try and make a move. if the Raiders wanted to move on from Michael Mayer, just because, hey, he needs a new situation, that kind of thing. But at the end of the day, I think now you kind of said, like, all right, we are settled at this position now. We know what the pecking order is. Let's now go into the fall and play this out. It was not Jeffrey, but it was, it's someone who does know Jeffrey.

I'll put it that way. So are you surprised that this happened, given everything that's that's kind of come out throughout the offseason. No, I, you know, I think that it was always a possibility. I agree with you. You know, as we heard them talk at the combine. We heard them talk at owners meetings. Any time that you heard Nick Siriani, Jeffrey, Larry, Howard Roseman speak,

it definitely felt like past tense whenever it was Dallas got it. It was reflective on his time with the Eagles and not necessarily about a current member of this team. So it definitely felt like that was what they were. trying to push was that it was most likely, you know, you could create a soft landing for fans in that way. But I think at the end of the day, this was always something that was on the table. Now, I thought that they were going to end up moving on from Dallas Godder. But again, once the draft happened and we saw that there was no suitable replacement bought in, it felt like this was the right outcome for them.

Yeah. You know, they're in professional football and in many businesses, you're often as loyal as your options, right? And so earlier this off season, there were more options for the Eagles. There were more options for Goddard. You're at a point now on May 7th where the options on both sides have really dried up. And honestly, I don't even want to call it spin, but there might be a narrative here or a presentation that like this was a selfless move from Goddard. I don't necessarily know if I would frame it like that, but I do think it's very much a run it back move from Goddard.

in that I don't think Goddard might be, you know, going into this saying he's going to retire with the Eagles. But I think this is a one-year resolution that makes sense for both sides. And it's not ideal from his end to hit the free agent market at, what, 31 next year? That will be the first time he would be a free agent. But if he can put together a healthy year, a good year, tight ends, age decently. You know, George Kittle just got a big deal at an older age. So it is the type of situation where I think, you know, like as you spend it forward, a good year for the Eagles, a good year for Goddard, similar to what happened with Josh Sweat,

it could be beneficial for Goddard in particular. Yeah, and that's why Goddard would, you know, agree to a situation like this. Because honestly, we talked about how the situations have dried up for the Eagles. Well, the situations are kind of dried up for Dallas as well. You know, if they were to try, even if they were to outright release him, which my guess that probably would not have happened. And tell me if you describe, I don't think that they would have just outright cut him here this summer.

I think they would have tried to try to find a trade partner. It just would have been for, you know, less than ideal compensation coming back. But I think at the end of the day, this is what's best. You know, Dallas can go back, try and have a fully healthy year, productive member of this offense and try and cash in one more time here in his age 31 season. And I know there might be Eagles fans who say like was,

was all this speculation and commotion worth it for $4 million? And I think when you're looking at your overall, at the team's overall budget, the answer is probably yes. I mean, the answer is probably, you know, how do you redirect that $4 million? And as I've been saying, they have a number in mind. Now, this is a number, frankly, if I'm being honest, it's higher than the number I thought they had in mind. But there was a number that they had in mind, but they would say, all right, it's acceptable for Dallas got a to play on that number. So that's exactly what you saw here. You are not going to be with us at the 2 p.m. show. I will be on with Rich Hoffman. We're still doing the mailbag, but we'll talk about this

at the top of the show. So final thoughts here. Does this change anything about the way you view the Eagles going in to the 2025 season? Yeah, it just definitely solidifies what has been the, I mean, he's the number three pass catcher in this offense. And so you definitely have to feel better about the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles, knowing that Dallas got her is going to be a, part of this team going into camp. Now that that cloud is finally been cleared out, that question is removed. We know what the construct of this team is now. We know what to expect.

When he is healthy and everybody else around him is healthy, this is one of the best offenses in football, and you would expect that it's going to reflect that here when they take the field and we've won. That's Brand Duffy. Julia, as always, does an outstanding job producing these emergency shows, all shows, but I'm jumping on quickly for the emergency show show. Thank you to Fran. Thank you to Julia. Thank you to Trumark Financial Credit Union. I said it correctly now. I was moving on before I mentioned the Credit Union before. We will be back at 2 p.m. with Rich Hoffman for more. Until then, but we'll say, as always, we love you. I'll say we'll do better in two hours. Thanks for watching.