Kenyon Sadiq
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University of Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq.
The Philadelphia Eagles keep putting off the decision on the future of star tight end Dallas Goedert — a decision that should come at some point Monday on whether he’ll be back in 2026.
If the Eagles are truly ready to part ways with Goedert then they will need to replace him with someone who can take their offense to another level. Not a place filler.
That player would almost certainly need to come through the NFL draft, although the Eagles are being warned against any move that would include them trading up to get the apple of every team’s eye at the position with Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq.
“No, they shouldn’t (trade up), but he’s a really good player,” The Ringer’s Todd McShay said on Saturday. “He’s explosive. I don’t think he’s in the class of some of the top, top guys we’ve seen in recent years. I really don’t … (the Eagles) need more picks, not fewer.”
While the Eagles may not get the very best tight end available with Sadiq — or even the second-best available with Vanderbilt’s Eli Stowers — there might still be plenty of tight end talent to go around in the later rounds.
Eagles Should Focus on Drafting Ohio State Star
The Athletic’s latest mock draft predicted the Eagles will draft their next franchise tight end in the 3rd round with Ohio State star Max Klare.
Goedert, 6-foot-5 and 256 pounds, was a 2nd round pick (No. 49 overall) out of South Dakota State in the 2018 NFL draft and has spent his entire career with the Eagles.
“A tight end on Day 2 for the Eagles? It hasn’t happened since Dallas Goedert in 2018, and before that, Zach Ertz in 2013,” The Athletic’s Zach Berman wrote. “Now comes Goedert’s potential replacement — or at least a promising prospect on the tight end depth chart … (Klare) is a fluid athlete who is in a crowded group of tight ends following (projected) first-round pick Kenyon Sadiq.”
Transferred From Big Ten Doormat to Ohio State
Klare, 6-foot-5 and 243 pounds, has drawn comparisons in the past to Ertz, who was a 3-time Pro Bowler and won a Super Bowl with the Eagles following the 2017 season.
In 2024, Klare was an All-Big Ten pick at Purdue with 51 receptions for 685 yards and 4 touchdowns in 12 games and transferred to Ohio State for his final season. He repeated as All-Big Ten with 43 receptions for 448 yards and 2 touchdowns in 2025 while playing around a gaggle of future NFL pass-catching talent, including possible 2027 NFL draft No. 1 overall pick wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
“Max Klare is an explosive presence who uses route nuance and a great catch-to-attack mentality to create space for himself,” Bleacher Report’s Daniel Harms wrote in his pre-draft evaluation. “The Ohio State offense hasn’t given him the platform to show what he can do, but the tape doesn’t lie.”
Even if the Eagles do draft a tight end, bringing back Goedert for at least 1 more year might be the smartest play — he just set the Eagles’ single-season touchdown record for tight ends with his 11th touchdown catch in a 13-12 win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 17.