With uncertainty swirling around the immediate future of Dallas Goedert and his future in Philadelphia, the Eagles created some leverage with a pair of free agent signings this offseason.
In a somewhat surprising move at the time, Philly signed veteran tight ends Harrison Bryant and Kylen Granson to one-year deals, moves that beefed up a depth chart that prominently featured Goedert and Grant Calcaterra last season.
The Eagles had a third tight end who flew under the radar in 2024. The training camp standout was active for 12 games — including Super Bowl LIX — and carved out a significant special teams role over the second half of the season.
That player was E.J. Jenkins, and Jimmy Kempski of The Philly Voice believes we’re all sleeping on the ascending 26-year-old as the Eagles get set to kick-off training camp this week.
In his latest 53-man roster projection, Kempski has the Eagles ditching both Granson and Bryant in favor of Jenkins, who was hard not to notice last summer as he racked up nine receptions for 66 yards in Philly’s preseason games. Here was Kempski's take:
I'm imagining that guys like Kylen Granson and Harrison Bryant called their agents on the day that Goedert agreed to a pay cut, and were like, "Yo WTF, I thought you said Goedert wasn't coming back?!"
Their chances of sticking both took hits that day. With Goedert and Calcaterra both back, I think the Eagles can afford to keep developing Jenkins, who has great size and athleticism, and was active on game day for the Super Bowl.
Cutting ties with both veteran tight ends would be a surprise, especially Granson, who was presumably added for his rush-blocking prowess. But Kempski makes a fair point here. Even with Goedert limited to a career-low 10 games during the regular season due to injuries, tight end wasn’t really a weakness for the Eagles in 2024, with Calcaterra stepping up into a more prominent role and depth guys like Jack Stoll and Jenkins slotting in behind him.
It’s not uncommon for GM Howie Roseman to cut a veteran player he just signed. In 2024, he parted with linebacker Devin White after the Eagles guaranteed $3.5 million of his $4 million salary.
The tight end money is less egregious, but it’s worth noting that Granson got $1 million in guarantees compared to Bryant’s $780K. Both players were former fourth-round picks, so Jenkins will need another monster camp to leapfrog both players on the depth chart and keep his job.
We had Granson making the squad in our early roster projection with Jenkins opening on the practice squad. That’s probably the most likely outcome as it stands, given Granson’s contract, but Jenkins will definitely be a player to watch as Eagles camp heats up in the coming weeks.
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