Philadelphia Eagles: 3 tight ends to keep an eye on in the later rounds

The 2021 NFL Draft is just a few days away, and we’re quickly running out of time to assess and evaluate prospects who may be a fit for the Philadelphia Eagles.

With the clock ticking, I thought it’d be a good idea to glance at a position that most mock drafts have the Eagles addressing during the later stages of this year’s draft – backup tight end.

While Dallas Goedert and Zach Ertz are both currently on the roster, the general expectation is that Ertz will be traded at some point this year. If not, he’ll almost definitely depart via free agency.

Behind Goedert and Ertz, the Eagles tight end depth currently consists of guys like Hakeem Butler, Tyree Jackson (former QB!), Jason Croom, and Caleb Wilson.

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Not great!

While the Eagles presumably won’t be using any of their Day 1 or Day 2 picks on a tight end (unless Kyle Pitts falls…?), snagging a developmental TE3 with a Day 3 pick would be fairly wise.

Looking at some late-round TEs the Philadelphia Eagles could draft:

Kenny Yeboah, Ole Miss

A former Temple Owl who actually saw his production increase upon transferring to the talent-heavy SEC, Kenny Yeboah has all the makings of a future TE2 at the professional level.

Standing in at 6-4 and 247lbs, Yeboah has a fairly polished route tree for someone of his size. He proved productive as both a red zone threat and an every down pass-catcher at Ole Miss, finishing 2020 with 524 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns.

Yeboah also posted a yards per catch rate of 19.4 last year, really showing off the potential he possesses as a vertical playmaker.

A willing blocker as well, Yeboah could easily slot in as the Philadelphia Eagles #2 tight end alongside Goedert in 2022. 12-personnel sets containing the two pass-catchers would cause plenty of mismatches.

Yeboah would be my first pick when it comes to “backup tight ends” in this year’s class.