Eagles’ Dallas Goedert returns to practice after missing win over Chiefs and feels ‘really good’

Dallas Goedert is well-aware of his bad injury luck in games against the team that plays in his namesake’s city.

In 2023, Goedert fractured his right forearm in the Eagles’ Week 9 win over the Dallas Cowboys. He missed the next three games, including the following contest against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

Less than two years later, the 30-year-old tight end suffered a knee injury in the season opener against the Cowboys that sidelined him the following week in Kansas City, Mo. While he couldn’t suit up for the game, Goedert still traveled with the team.

“It was really tough,” Goedert said Wednesday. “I’ve never played at Arrowhead. I was glad I got to go this time. The atmosphere was great. They were able to get the job done. That would’ve been a lot of fun to play in that game.”

The 6-foot-5, 256-pound Goedert is one step closer to returning to action. He was a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice, the first of the week ahead of the Eagles’ Week 3 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. It was Goedert’s first practice since sustaining the knee injury Sept. 4 in the second half of the Cowboys game.

He said he felt “really good” in Wednesday’s training session. Still, with two more practices left before the divisional-round rematch, Goedert isn’t in a rush to make any conclusions about his availability for Sunday’s game.

“Still taking it day by day, but see how it feels tomorrow,” he said.

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Goedert said he had to wear a brace on his knee to finish the season opener. On the play on which he sustained his injury — a third-down catch — Goedert turned upfield and took a shot to the outside of his knee. He said he knew right away that something was wrong.

“Finished that drive and then went in the blue tent really quick, told them to put a brace on it, and then played the rest,” he said. “I tried to convince them to let me play last week, but they made me listen to the medical professionals.”

Goedert still shouldered a heavy workload in that game despite the injury, playing 52 offensive snaps (83%) until the final Jalen Hurts kneel-down. He was the quarterback’s most frequent target of the night during a quiet showing for the passing game and caught all seven of his targets for 44 yards, including two first downs.

The tight end said he is “comfortable” playing with a brace if he needs to wear one in his next game. He said following his late-season knee injury that landed him on injured reserve last year (which he said is unrelated to his current ailment), he wore a brace from the final regular-season game through the Super Bowl.

“It’s not always the most aesthetic thing, but any way you can be on the field, I’ll do it,” Goedert said.

He has dealt with a variety of injuries over his eight-year career with the Eagles. Last season alone, he missed seven games with two separate injuries, including a hamstring injury that sidelined him from Weeks 7 to 9 and the knee problem that put him on injured reserve from Weeks 14 to 17.

Still, Goedert was one of the Eagles’ most reliable receivers last season, hauling in 80.8% of his targets, which was the team high among pass catchers with at least 20 targets.

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The Eagles would welcome his presence in the pass and run game if he can play against the Rams. They finished with just 216 yards of total offense against the Chiefs, which were the fewest in a win under Nick Sirianni since he became coach in 2021. Despite the offense’s slow start, Goedert expressed a sense of confidence that the group will soon establish a rhythm.

“Last year, we were sitting at 2-2 four weeks in,” Goedert said. “We didn’t really find our identity as an offense until after that. So it’s still really early and things are going to start to come together. We played a really good defensive coordinator last week and then Week 1, it was a new coach with a new defensive coordinator. We weren’t sure what they were going to run.

“As the year goes, you start to get tells and things seem to unfold a little bit easier as the year progresses.”

The only player on the active roster missing from Wednesday’s practice was Will Shipley, the second-year running back who has been sidelined with an oblique injury in his side for the last week.

Jalen Carter (shoulder) was a limited participant in practice. The third-year defensive tackle was favoring his right arm throughout the Chiefs game, but he didn’t miss any time. He said in the locker room afterward that he was dealing with “a little pain.”

Tanner McKee (right thumb) also was limited. The second-string quarterback has been inactive for the first two games of the season, but he served as the emergency third-string quarterback for Sunday’s win.