The Philadelphia Eagles weren't expected to have Dallas Goedert for a while due to a foot injury, and now the team knows the extent of how long their No. 2 tight end will be on the shelf. Per Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Goedert has a fractured left ankle -- not a sprain as initially thought. The Eagles weren't expecting to have Goedert for an extended period of time, but the timetable for him being out will vary depending on the severity of the injury.
After Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said Monday Goedert is "going to miss some time," the club announced later that afternoon that the tight end will be heading to injured reserve. Under the new IR rules for the 2020 season, Goedert will be sidelined for three weeks before being eligible to come off reserve. Goedert is 10th among NFL tight ends in receiving yards (138) and his 13 receptions are tied for sixth for players at the position. Goedert also leads the Eagles in receiving yards through three games.
The loss of Goedert is significant for an Eagles team that runs "12 personnel" a league-high 59% of the offensive snaps (per Sharp Football Stats), a product of an offense that revolves around Goedert and Zach Ertz. Philadelphia has been hindered with injuries at the skill positions, losing Miles Sanders for the season opener with a lower body injury and Alshon Jeffery is still recovering from a LisFranc injury suffered last December (Jeffery has yet to play a game). DeSean Jackson is "day-to-day" with a hamstring injury, but the Eagles are optimistic he will play in Sunday's game against the San Francisco 49ers. Jalen Reagor is also out several weeks with a torn UCL in his thumb.
If Jackson doesn't play, the Eagles wide receivers will be Greg Ward, Deontay Burnett, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and John Hightower. Ward leads the group with 14 catches for 108 yards while Burnett was called up from the practice squad last week. Hightower, a fifth-round rookie, had his first career catch last week and Arcega-Whiteside doesn't have a catch this season -- battling an injury in the process.
Richard Rodgers will be the No. 2 tight end while Goedert is out, but the club did sign former Cardinals 2019 fourth-round pick Hakeem Butler off of the Panther practice squad and to their active roster. Butler should be looked at as a depth piece within Philly's tight end unit, but is still a promising prospect who has yet to make his NFL debut.
The Eagles also still have Miles Sanders at running back and Ertz as the No. 1 tight end.
"The thing that we look at now moving forward, we're going to have to find creative and unique ways to use all our players on offense," Pederson said regarding charges to the offense. "The tight ends, the runners, obviously, with Carson (Wentz). And we've done this before. We did it at the end of the season last year. We won the four straight [games] to get us into the postseason, and it appears we're going to have to do that again."
