Philadelphia Eagles News & Rumors

Eagles Place TE Dallas Goedert On IR

Dallas Goedert‘s knee injury will sideline him for at least the rest of the month. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the Eagles are placing Goedert on injured reserve.

The veteran tight end will first be eligible to return for Philly’s regular season finale. Rapoport notes that the organization is hoping this break will have Goedert “full speed” for the postseason. While Week 18 would serve as a low-risk return, the Eagles could just wait to activate the tight end during the playoffs.

Goedert suffered his knee injury during last Sunday’s win over the Ravens. The 29-year-old still finished the contest having hauled in three catches for 35 yards and a score while appearing in 40 snaps.

The former second-round pick has been limited to only nine games this season thanks to a previous hamstring issue that sidelined him for three games (and most of a fourth). When he’s been on the field, he’s been plenty productive, hauling in 38 catches for 441 yards. His 49-yards-per-game mark represents the third-highest average of his career, and that includes his no-show in Week 6.

Grant Calcaterra saw the bulk of the snaps at tight end when Goedert was sidelined earlier this season. The third-year player was productive atop the depth chart, hauling in eight catches for 88 yards between Week 8 and Week 9. During that span, Jack Stoll served as the team’s TE2, but the journeyman has since caught on with the Dolphins. C.J. Uzomah was recently brought in for some spot fullback snaps, but the former Bengal could easily soak up some snaps at his natural position.

Fortunately for the Eagles, the offense should continue to hum with their starting TE out of the lineup. DeVonta Smith‘s return from a hamstring injury will certainly help, but Philly should continue to cruise as long as Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and A.J. Brown lead their respective depth charts.

 

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/4/24

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Dallas Cowboys

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

  • Signed: CB Jason Maitre

Minnesota Vikings

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/4/24

Today’s minor moves:

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

  • Designated for return: LB Dyontae Johnson

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Spencer Shrader‘s hamstring injury will knock him out for the next four weeks, and with Harrison Butker eventually set to return, the fill-in kicker’s stint with the Chiefs has likely come to an end. Temporarily, the team will turn to their third kicker in Matthew Wright. The veteran filled in for Shrader this past weekend, connecting on four of his five field goal tries.

Former Dolphins second-round pick Cam Smith landed on IR today, likely ending his disappointing sophomore campaign. The cornerback did get more run in 2024 vs. his rookie season, but he was still limited to only 16 tackles in six games thanks to a pair of IR stints. This time, it’s a shoulder issue that will put the South Carolina product on the shelf.

Saints safety Roderic Teamer was hit with a three-game ban today for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston. Mike Triplett of NewOrleans.football notes that Teamer’s unpaid ban is “the conclusion of his DUI arrest” in 2023 (when he was with the Raiders). Teamer was limited to only a pair of appearances this season, with all of his snaps coming on special teams.

Titans lineman Jaelyn Duncan returned to practice today after missing the past six games while nursing a hamstring injury. The former sixth-round pick could actually see a significant role upon his return, with Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com noting that the second-year player could get a look at right tackle once he’s fully healthy.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/3/24

Today’s practice squad moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

With Trevor Lawrence currently in concussion protocol, the Jaguars have added some QB depth to the organization. John Wolford brings four games of starting experience to Jacksonville, all coming with the Rams between 2020 and 2022. The Wake Forest product went 2-2 in those appearances, tossing one touchdown vs. five interceptions. He’ll slide in behind Mac Jones and C.J. Beathard in the franchise’s QB pecking order.

The Eagles added a veteran fullback to their roster in Khari Blasingame. The 28-year-old has appeared in 66 games since entering the league in 2019, collecting 131 yards from scrimmage on 24 carries. The Eagles recently lost part-time fullback Ben VanSumeren for the season, opening a role for a handful of blocking snaps per game.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/2/24

Monday’s minor transactions:

Atlanta Falcons

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

The Falcons get the second-round rookie, Orhorhoro, back from injured reserve for the closing stretch of the season. The Clemson-product has seen minimal time in his first NFL season, rotating in for only four games so far, but Atlanta will take whatever help it can get on a defense that is dead-last in the league with only 15 sacks on the year.

Zappe was signed off the Patriots’ practice squad following Deshaun Watson‘s placement on IR. Jameis Winston has performed admirably in relief of Watson, and the team must have confidence in second-year backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson behind him.

Shenault continues to struggle to find a place on an NFL offense, but he did carve out a role as a strong kick returner in Seattle this year. That added ability may help him find another roster spot soon.

Gill is the second punter the Buccaneers have waived this year. Gill’s yards per punt average of 43.3 currently ranks for 33rd in the NFL.

Seymour has served the league’s six-game suspension for violating its performance-enhancing drugs policy and is now able to return to the field.

Dallas Goedert Expected To Miss Time

Dallas Goedert has been one of the NFL’s best all-around tight ends for a few years now, and he has certainly been a central part of the Eagles’ surge to 10-2. But the veteran continues to struggle with injuries.

The seventh-year pass catcher’s latest setback is expected to key an absence. Goedert is now battling a knee injury that will sideline him on a week-to-week basis, per the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane. While this is not expected to be a season-ending issue, a short-term IR stay may be in the cards. That would be familiar territory for Goedert.

Set to turn 30 next month, Goedert has landed on IR twice in his career. Ankle and shoulder injuries previously moved the former second-round pick off Philadelphia’s 53-man roster (in 2020 and ’22). A forearm fracture sustained last year did not, but Goedert still missed time. Goedert has already missed three games this season, with a hamstring injury sidelining him. Altogether, Goedert has missed 17 games as a pro. He has not seen any of his ailments require more than a five-week in-season recovery, however, and this one should be no exception.

The Eagles’ trade for Jahan Dotson notwithstanding, they still feature a well-defined target tree. Goedert operates as the third pillar alongside A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Through nine games, Goedert has 38 receptions for 441 yards and two touchdowns. One of those scores came Sunday in Baltimore. While injuries have impeded him from producing eye-popping stats as a pro, the South Dakota State alum has been integral to Philly’s passing and rushing attacks.

Philly released Albert Okwuegbunam earlier this season, doing so despite using one of its IR-return activations on him, but the team also added veteran C.J. Uzomah. Grant Calcaterra remains the team’s backup tight end. The Eagles used Calcaterra as an eight-game starter; he has 17 catches for 216 yards. An extended Goedert absence would hurt the Eagles’ passing attack, especially considering both Brown and Smith have missed time this season.

Smith has missed the past two Eagles games, though the now-Saquon Barkley-powered team has motored to an eight-game win streak anyway. Were Goedert to land on IR, he would not be able to return until Week 18. This would stand to impact the team’s push for its second NFC No. 1 seed in three years.

NFL Contract Notes: Henry, Barkley, Smith, Reddick, Hubbard

Ravens running back Derrick Henry has been enjoying a phenomenal first season in Baltimore. The team signed him to a two-year, $16MM deal that saw him receive $9MM in cash in the first year. Henry’s deal also came with five $500K incentives.

His incentives are maxed out at $2MM, so he can only cash in on four of those five incentives, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. So far this year, Henry has hit on three incentives: 1,200 rushing yards, 13 total touchdowns, and 15 total touchdowns.

The remaining two incentives would require him to reach 1,500 rushing yards or would require the team to win the Super Bowl. While the Ravens still have a ways to go in order to get to the big game, Henry only needs 93 yards in the team’s final four games in order to max out his incentives.

Here are a few other contract notes from around the NFL:

  • Eagles running back Saquon Barkley also is tracking down some incentives. Smartly, none of Barkley’s incentives revolve around rushing touchdowns, thanks to the infamous “tush push,” per Garafolo and Ian Rapoport. Barkley will earn $250K if he reaches 1,500 scrimmage yards (he’s 36 yards away from that total after today’s game in Baltimore) and an additional $250K if he reaches 2,000. Additionally, each incentive acts as an escalator for next year’s base salary, adding a potential $1MM to his total contract value. He also would receive $250K for a second-team All-Pro or Pro Bowl selection and $500K for a first-team All-Pro selection. That incentive would act as an escalator for next year, as well. Lastly, Barkley would earn $250K each for victories in the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl.
  • Jets left tackle Tyron Smith may have just been placed on injured reserve, but his health up to that point had been paying dividends. His recent injury history required him to settle for a heavily incentivized contract with only $6.5MM in base salary and $12MM in playing time incentives. By playing every snap through nine games, Smith essentially qualified for the 50% of offensive snaps threshold that earns him $2.75MM. Every additional game after that would essentially net him an additional $1MM, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, with the final five games being worth $1.25MM per week. Unfortunately, he only fit one game in before moving to IR. He could make his way back to earn a couple more incentives, but New York may prefer to get an extended look at their tackle of the future, Olu Fashanu, instead.
  • Also in New York, pass rusher Haason Reddick still has an opportunity to earn some playing time incentives after ending his holdout, per Cimini. Through the four games (before today) Reddick has appeared in, he has played 179 of 275 defensive snaps, good for about 43 percent. If he can keep that percentage over 40, he’ll earn a $791,628 incentive bonus, but his last two games have seen him only play 37 percent of the team’s snaps, so that bonus may be in danger. Reddick could also earn a $500K bonus if he reaches eight sacks, but with only 0.5 sacks through five games with only five more remaining, that incentive feels out of reach.
  • Lastly, we saw the Panthers reward running back Chuba Hubbard with a recent four-year, $33.2MM extension. Per our friends at OvertheCap.com, the deal comes with a signing bonus of $7.71MM and only sees the first year’s base salary guaranteed.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/30/24

Saturday’s minor moves and standard gameday practice squad elevations:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo is listed as questionable, but head coach Raheem Morris is confident he’ll play, calling Patterson an emergency option.

Speculation out of Baltimore was that Maulet wouldn’t require a second stint on injured reserve with his calf injury, but that intel appears to have been off. Maulet and Kolar could potentially make a return in time for the postseason, but they’ll miss four games before they do.

VanSumeren served double-duty as a fullback and linebacker. With his placement on IR, Uzomah was targeted as a possibility to fill in at fullback.

Eagles LB/FB Ben VanSumeren Done For Season

Ben VanSumeren is done for the season. The Eagles linebacker/special teamer/part-time fullback suffered a season-ending knee injury during Friday’s practice, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. VanSumeren is set to undergo more testing to determine the extent of the injury, but the initial diagnosis indicated that the player will miss the rest of the campaign.

The former UDFA caught on with the Eagles ahead of the 2023 campaign. He proceeded to get into nine games (one start) as a rookie, compiling 13 tackles while playing 180 of his 230 total snaps on special teams.

VanSumeren has seen a different role during his sophomore season. The 24-year-old has continued to play on special teams (213 snaps), but his defensive gig has completely disappeared. However, he has earned a job on the other side of the ball. As McLane notes, VanSumeren has served as the team’s fullback since they “shifted to more of a run-based offense” post-bye. VanSumeren was recruited to Michigan as a fullback, and that experience helped garner him some extra snaps in 2024.

While VanSumeren is a respected member of Philly’s special teams unit, the team’s more pressing need will come on offense. McLane suggests that practice squad tight end C.J. Uzomah might be the best option to serve as fullback during those handful of plays each game.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/27/24

Here are Wednesday’s practice squad moves:

Denver Broncos

Minnesota Vikings

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

The Vikings used an injury activation on Muse but waived him Tuesday. This will at least keep a player they prioritized via the activation around. A 2022 seventh-round pick, Muse played in 10 games as a Vikings rookie but just five over the past two seasons.

Also waived Tuesday, Throckmorton will end up sticking around as one of the many ex-Saints players and coaches on Sean Payton‘s second Broncos roster. The veteran backup O-lineman joins ex-New Orleans starter Kwon Alexander and 2023 Saints draftee A.T. Perry on Denver’s practice squad, with the likes of Wil Lutz, Adam Trautman, Malcolm Roach, Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Lucas Krull comprising the contingent of former Saints on the Broncos’ 53-man roster.