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With the Philadelphia Eagles' roster officially trimmed down to 53 players in order to comply with the NFL's timeline, there's one question that has picked up steam online: why did Kellen Moore and company only keep two tight ends?
Now sure, technically, the Eagles do have three tight ends still under standard NFL contracts, as Albert Okwuegbunam landed on IR with a core muscle injury and theoretically could return to the field for the team at some point this fall, but for at least the first few weeks of the season, there will only be two tight ends on Philly's 53 man roster… unless, of course, they decide to sign another player to really shore up the position grouping.
But who could that be? Is there a tight end out there with experience in Moore's offense? Why yes, there is, and while he doesn't already have an Eagles uniform in his closet like, say, Jack Stoll, this 6-foot-8, 239-pound former Charger will have fans thinking back fondly on Ifeanyi Momah in the best possible way: Donald Parham Jr.
Originally signing with the Detroit Lions as a UDFA out of NCAA powerhouse Stetson in 2019, Parham ultimately landed with the Chargers in 2020 after a successful run with the Dallas Renegades in the XFL, spending four seasons in LA as a supplemental target for Justin Herbert. Though his stats were never “elite,” largely playing a TE2/TE3 role, his size, athleticism, and upsides kept him gainfully employed across multiple different offenses. Granted, his 764 yards over four professional seasons total is nothing to write home about, but considering he only caught 67 passes on 100 targets over that time frame, averaging 11.4 yards per reception to go with 11 receiving touchdowns, the groundwork is very much there for a bottom-of-the-roster performer to find some unlikely success in a new location.
Sure, technically, the Eagles have their top-2 spots on the depth chart locked up, but when you consider that 2022 sixth-round pick Grant Calcaterra has even less production than Parham, who knows, if Howie Roseman were to bring him to town, he could end up playing even more snaps than the SMU product, giving Philly a tantalizing interior tandem of massive monsters if he shares the field with rookie receiver Johnny Wilson.
Will Parham end up on the Eagles? It's hard to say; he's a veteran, so he isn't subject to waivers and thus can theoretically sign wherever he wants, either on the practice squad or the 53-man roster. Whether that ultimately happens in Philadelphia, however, will depend on what the Eagles are looking for and how Philadelphia wants to address the position heading into Week 1, as it's clear they won't have just two tight ends on the field against the Green Bay Packers in Brazil.
Dallas Goedert is excited about Kellen Moore's Eagles' offense
While the Eagles may currently be light on tight ends on their 53-man roster, even if Albert O landed on IR and EJ Jenkins has the potential to play in Week 1 off of the practice squad – should Philly choose to take things that direction – that doesn't mean Moore's offense somehow doesn't like tight ends a la Kliff Kingsburry's Air Raid in Arizona.
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No, in the opinion of Dallas Goedert in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff Neiburg earlier this summer, Philly's top tight end, and low-key secret offensive weapon, Moore's offense is actually very TE-friendly, which gets the South Dakota product very excited about his future indeed.
“He's been doing a great job of just making the offense make sense, and we kind of changed up the reads and different things like that throughout,” Goedert explained. “I feel like it'll play in favor of the tight end, the quick game a little bit, getting back to the pivots, the sticks that I caught earlier in my career that went away a little bit. I'm really excited for how he uses the tight end and how he feels like they can be a big part of the offense and help win games.”
Moore, too, has discussed how unique the position of tight end is in the NFL early in his tenure with the Los Angeles Chargers and explained just how important it is to play up to individual players' strengths.
“The tight end room is a very rare room, and it's a very important room for an offense because they're part of every aspect of the game. The run game, they're right in there with the O-line in the run-game component and the techniques. They're in the pass game, obviously. With the QBs, at times, they're a protector, even in the play-action game and whatnot. Those guys have to be able to do a lot of different things,” Moore explained via ESPN.
“Gerald (Everett) has done a tremendous job. Then, we have this younger group that we're really excited about just developing these guys. Giving them roles and opportunities. I think the cool thing about football is that you can play it in a lot of different ways. There's not just one way to do it. We find what these guys do really well and try to enhance those things.”
Fortunately for Parham, Moore was able to lead him to his best season as a pro with the Chargers last year, even if that didn't guarantee him a spot within the new administration under Jim Harbaugh. While it's impossible to know if Goedert will earn similar success under Moore this fall, based on the OC's track record, that sure feels like a strong possibility.
