Why Dallas Goedert doesn't believe he's really a tight end

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If you had no idea what position Dallas Goedert played and you just looked at his stats, you’d be like, “OK, pretty good wide receiver.”

Goedert has averaged 13.8 yards per catch in two years in Nick Sirianni’s offense and that would be 21st-highest of 80 wide receivers with at least 100 targets over the last two seasons.

Of course we all know Goedert isn’t really a wide receiver, he’s a tight end.

Or is he?

At 6-foot-5, 255 pounds, Goedert is built like a tight end. And he certainly blocks like an elite tight end. He usually lines up as a tight end. He is a tight end.

Or more accurately, he’s a wide receiver disguised as a tight end.

Over the last two two seasons, Goedert has 111 catches for 1,532 yards and that 13.8 average. Forget tight ends. Only 10 wide receivers have more yards and catches and a higher average than Goedert since opening day 2021.

Goedert doesn’t just play like a wide receiver. He thinks like one.

Goedert said Wednesday he watches more film of wide receivers than tight ends. And it’s definitely paying off.

“I’m not really watching tight ends run routes,” he said. “I’m watching Julio Jones, Keenan Allen, I get the benefit of watching A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith first-hand every day, who are just phenomenal receivers who seem like they can get open at ease. 

“A lot of times we watch tight ends and what they’re doing and stuff, but wide receivers seem to be a little more fluid, a little better at route running, and I just feel like that benefits me because that’s ultimately what I want to do. 

“When I’m running routes, I want to look like a receiver and when I block I want to block like an o-lineman. I feel like watching receivers is more beneficial for me just because their one job is to run routes.”

His first three years here, Goedert averaged 10.7 yards per catch, which put him closer to the bottom than the top among tight ends. He ranked 22nd among 38 tight ends with at least 100 targets from 2018 through 2020.

In two years under Sirianni and Steichen, that figure has jumped to 13.8, 2nd-highest in the league behind only Kyle Pitts, who’s at 14.4. 

“I’d say my route running has benefitted the most since Sirianni and Steichen have been here,” he said.

There’s a pretty good reason for that.

“Obviously, I watch the tight ends when it comes to schemes and different things like that,” Goedert said Wednesday. “But when it comes down to route running it really started when Sirianni got here. 

“The first thing I can remember is I was running a corner stop (at practice), and they wanted me to stick my foot and get vertical, and the first clip they showed was Julio Jones running that route. And initially I’m getting a little upset. In my opinion, that was a really good route for a tight end that I just ran. You want me to look like Julio? I can’t look like Julio. I’m not Julio. I’m not as fast. 

“But then as time went on, next time I tried to stick a little bit more and the defense backed off.”

Sirianni and Steichen knew what they were talking about.

They pushed Goedert to fashion his routes after the top receivers, not just the top tight ends, and over the last couple years, he’s done that more and more.

His 57 yards per game the last two years are 5th-most among all tight ends, just a yard per game below George Kittle. This year, he was second to Travis Kelce at 59 per game.

“You watch receivers run routes and if I can emulate them I’m going to be a better route runner than I would be if I was watching people barely get open,” he said. “There are so many different formations, different things we do where I run the same routes or I’m in the same position as receivers in different spots. 

“Me and A.J. (Brown) will flip and we can just switch off that way. I just feel like watching the best of the best is the best way to become better.”

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