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Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert.
It would be hard to find a player with more motivation headed into the 2025 season on the Philadelphia Eagles roster than veteran tight end Dallas Goedert.
The Eagles started shopping Goedert from almost the moment the team won Super Bowl LIX in February and through the offseason with no takers, until eventually convincing Goedert to take a hefty pay cut for a 1-year, $10 million contract in 2025.
Now, Goedert is on the verge of tying and breaking a 60-year-old franchise record with 3 games left in the regular seas0n to do so.
“With one more TD catch, (Goedert) will tie a franchise record for most touchdowns by a tight end in a single season with 10,” Sports Illustrated’s Ed Kracz wrote on Tuesday, December 16. “The Eagles have had some very good tight ends in their history, but you have to go back 60 years to find the last time it happened, and that was 1965 when Pete Retzlaff scored 10.”
Goedert One of Offense’s Few Reliable Options
In a season in which the Eagles’ offense has been under the microscope every single week for one failure or another, Goedert has been an oasis of consistency.
One of the reasons the Eagles weren’t totally sold on the 30-year-old Goedert coming back in 2025 was him missing 7 games due to injury in 2024.
While Goedert was still productive when he played with 42 receptions for 496 yards and 2 touchdowns in 10 games, he was downright dominant in 4 postseason games with 17 receptions for 215 yards and 1 touchdown on 20 targets.
Goedert, 6-foot-5 and 256 pounds, has spent his entire career with the Eagles since he was drafted in the second round (No. 49 overall) out of South Dakota State in the 2018 NFL draft. He will have approximately $57.3 million in career earnings at the end of this season.
The Eagles snapped a 2-game losing streak and improved to 9-5 overall with a 31-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 15. Goedert had 7 receptions for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“In elite company!” Eagles History wrote on its official X account on December 16. “In Sunday’s game Dallas Goedert recorded his 400th career reception joining Harold Carmichael, Zach Ertz, Pete Retzlaff, and Brian Westbrook!”
Incredible Connection Between Retzlaff, Goedert
There is a wild connection linking Retzlaff and Goedert across the ages — the tight ends are both South Dakota State products.
Retzlaff, who died in 2020 at 88 years old, was an All-American for the Jackrabbits in the early 1950s in both football and track and field. Selected by the Detroit Lions in the 22nd round of the 1953 NFL draft but was cut and spent 2 years in the U.S. Army before making the Eagles in 1956.
Retzlaff played 11 seasons for the Eagles from 1956 to 1966, winning an NFL championship in 1960 along with being named a 4-time NFL All-Pro and 5-time Pro Bowler. He retired with Eagles franchise records for receptions (452) and receiving yards (7,412) and his No. 44 jersey was retired.
Goedert was a 2-time All-American at South Dakota State in 2016 and 2017 and has 403 receptions for 4,636 yards and 43 touchdowns in 8 NFL seasons. He’s also played in 2 Super Bowls with one victory following last season.
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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