This context accounts for why, in what just a few weeks ago would have qualified as a big surprise, Dallas Goedert will be the Eagles’ starting tight end this season. For most of the spring, Goedert’s career arc,

The Eagles, perhaps preparing for a possible Goedert trade, signed two veteran free agents in Harrison Bryant and Kylen Granson to low-cost, one-year contracts in March. But they did not draft a tight end, a likely sign that they were working to bring Goedert back.