Philadelphia Eagles: Dallas Goedert is a jackpot option vs. Las Vegas

After spending his entire career up to this point paired up with fellow former second-round pick Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert is set to enter a whole new era of football with the Philadelphia Eagles.

If he shines, Howie Roseman will be rolling up the Brinks truck sans any sort of “hometown discount”; a sentiment he directly addressed in Ertz’s farewell press conference.

And if he fails to show out? Well, fingers crossed Tyree Jackson turns into a player, as the Eagles don’t have another proven tight end option in their orbit outside of practice squad member Richard Rodgers.

Surely these next 10 games will go a long way in defining Goedert’s future both in the league and with the Eagles, and it all starts in Week 7, when the team travels to Las Vegas to take on the new-look Raiders.

Fortunately for both Dallas Goedert and the Philadelphia Eagles, Las Vegas isn’t particularly adept at shutting down tight ends through the first six weeks of the 2021 NFL season.

The Philadelphia Eagles need to target Dallas Goedert early and often in Las Vegas.

407.

That’s the number of yards the Las Vegas Raiders have given up to opposing tight ends through the first six weeks of the season, a mark that ranks sixth-worst league-wide behind only the Los Angeles Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Cheifs.

Considering the amount of capital both draft and monetary – roughly $26 million – the Raiders have invested in their linebacking/safety corps over the past few years, that isn’t great.

Want to know what else isn’t great? The four touchdowns the Raiders have surrendered to opposing tight ends, which ranks fourth behind the Chargers, Houston Texans, and yes, your friendly neighborhood Philadelphia Eagles.

Needless to say, if Nick Sirianni, Jalen Hurts, and the rest of the Eagles want to take advantage of a Raiders team currently engulfed in controversy, they’d be wise to target Goedert as early and often as possible.

Though the first six games of the season, Goedert has been the Eagles’ most consistently efficient receiving target. His yards per catch ranks third on the team behind Quez Watkins – who had a 91 yarder artificially inflating his averages – and Greg Ward, and he currently ranks third on the team in receiving yards at 216 despite only appearing in five games.

To make matters all the more impressive, Goedert is averaging eight yards after the catch on each of his receptions this season, which is by far the highest number of his career and nearly double his previous average.

In a normal week, the Eagles aren’t targeting Goedert enough, as 3.8 targets a game is woefully low for a team’s most senior receiving threat, but in Week 7? If Goedert isn’t targeted six, eight, even 10 times, there’s something seriously wrong with the team’s offensive evaluations.

Heading into the 2021 NFL season, many assumed the Eagles would play to their offensive strengths. Sure, Sirianni was the young, plucky first-year head coach who cut his teeth as a wide receiver and thus would attempt to elevate the offense with a flashy, high velocity passing game, but at their core, the Eagles’ roster didn’t meet those lofty expectations.

No, the Philadelphia Eagles are a team built to win in the trenches who could excel at deploying a throwback style offense predicated on running the ball and playing power with multiple tight end sets. With Zach Ertz now a member of the Arizona Cardinals, the onus falls even harder on Dallas Goedert’s shoulders to become a steady safety blanket across the middle of the field… that is, if he’s actually targeted.