Eagles Culture Wins The Day In Getting Star Tight End To Return

It was a deep draft for tight ends. The Eagles never took a dip. In three days covering seven rounds, they selected a total of zero tight ends.

Maybe that was the first clue that something was in the pipeline to bring Dallas Goedert back. The second clue was probably dropped two days after the draft concluded when Goedert went to the nation’s capital to be honored by the White House as Super Bowl LIX champions with Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman, and several coaches and teammates.

There were no hard feelings. No awkward moments. Goedert seemed to be enjoying himself, and that was crystal clear because he stood right behind President Donald Trump, smiling away with center Cam Jurgens.

About 10 days later, the news broke that the tight end would return to the Eagles for an eighth season. He wanted to come back, and the Eagles wanted him to come back. Sometimes that two-plus-two math doesn’t always add up to four, and players leave anyway.

Not Goedert. He wanted to be back, and the Eagles got what it wished for, one more year at $10 million with a little more thrown in for incentives. It was a similar deal to the one defensive end Josh Sweat got last year.

Sweat cashed out his one-year, $10M deal in a big way, earning a payday of $76.4M, with $38M guaranteed, over four years with the Arizona Cardinals.

Sweat, though, is just 28. Goedert is 30. It’s a difference of just two years, but in the NFL world, that two years, especially when the first number is ‘3,’ makes a giant difference years.

Say what you want about injuries that have robbed him of some games the past few years. When he plays, he is still one of the game’s best tight ends. He just won’t be paid like it in 2025, after taking a below-market value deal, and at a time when tight end salaries exploded this month.

The Cardinals’ Trey McBride got a new deal for $19M per year last month that made him the highest-paid player at his position for oh, about, a week, week when the 49ers George Kittle got a deal for more than $22M per season.

Goedert was the fifth-highest paid tight end in 2024. This deal, based on last year’s numbers, would have him ranked in a tie for 14th with the Saints’ Taysom Hill.

He had options, reportedly. Teams were willing to trade for him during the draft. The Eagles and their tight end reportedly kept in touch, and none of those deals were enough to make Goedert want to move.

Maybe the Eagles weren’t blown away, either. They were believed to want a fourth-round pick for him. Perhaps wasn’t one of those offered.

Maybe Goedert had no interest in the teams that were interested in him. He’s been to two Super Bowls, and in every interview, he always stresses the team first.

Players sometimes learn the old cliché of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence doesn’t always come true. While it’s nice to make a fortune, players want to win, too. They want to be with an organization that values them.

Players talk about the family atmosphere that is part of the Eagles’ culture. That may have been enough for him to stay put. However it played out, it’s good news for the Eagles that their tight end is back for at least one more year.