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Ohio State tight end Max Klare.
The Philadelphia Eagles spent most of last offseason trying to find a trade partner for tight end Dallas Goedert after watching him star in the playoffs on the way to winning a Super Bowl.
There were not takers, Goedert took a massive pay cut and ended up delivering one of the greatest seasons for his position in franchise history with 60 receptions for 591 yards and 11 touchdowns, breaking a 60-year-old single-season record for touchdowns for a tight end.
The Athletic’s latest mock draft predicts the Eagles aren’t done trying to replace Goedert and 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 champion with the Eagles.
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.”
Goedert Seemed Like One of NFL’s Best in 2025
We can make an argument in a year where the Eagles offense seemed to flatline over and over again, Goedert was the 1 functional piece from start to finish.
Goedert set the touchdown record with his 11th touchdown catch in a 13-12 win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 1 — a game in which quarterback Jalen Hurts went 0-for-7 passing in the second half. His 60 receptions in 2025 were also a career high.
Goedert added 4 receptions for 33 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card Round.
Of the 13 total touchdowns Goedert scored in 2025, 12 of them were in the red zone, with 11 coming inside of the 10-yard line.
“DALLAS GOEDERT IS THE SINGLE GREATEST REDZONE THREAT IN HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL,” That’s Ball Folks podcast host Josh Reynolds wrote on his official X account.
In May 2025, Goedert agreed to drop his salary from approximately $15.5 million to $10 million. Spotrac projects he could draw a 1-year, $6 million free agent contract in the open market this offseason.
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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