Eagles’ biggest need to address in 2026 NFL Draft after failing to find it in free agency

After the first day of NFL free agency’s legal tampering window, the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster had holes.

Widely considered one of the best rosters in football heading into the 2025 NFL season, the team lost their WR3, Jahan Dotson, their long-time starting inside linebacker, Nakobe Dean, plus three more starters in edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, strong safety Reed Blankenship, and CB2 Adoree’ Jackson, who collectively started 34 games for Vic Fangio’s defense last season.

Fortunately, the Eagles were able to add a number of interesting options on one-year contracts to help refill the cupboard early in free agency, allowing them to go best player available in the NFL Draft almost across the board.

With Howie Roseman embracing a build-through-the-draft strategy that has produced players like DeVonta Smith, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and beyond, all of whom are either lined up for massive new contracts or have already signed big-money extensions, the Eagles really only use free agency to make the occasional big swing. The results? A few misses, like Bryce Huff, but a few A+ home runs like Saquon Barkley, who was the heart of the team’s Super Bowl run in 2024, even if he underperformed in 2025 versus his All-Pro expectations.

With Hollywood Brown in place at WR3, Arnold Elbike providing depth as an edge rusher behind Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, and Brandon Graham, Marcus Epps and JT Gray signed to compete for Blankenship’s role, and the dynamic duo of Riq Woolen and Jonathan Jones joining Mitchell, DeJean, Kelee Ringo, Mac McWilliams, and Michael Carter II in Fangio’s cornerbacks room, the Eagles really don’t have any obvious holes from free agency that they must fill in the 2026 NFL Draft.

They do, however, have one position that they addressed not once, not twice, but four times with free agent signings that could theoretically be considered filled, but is still a major need long-term, especially after how little the position was addressed last spring when it was just as big of an issue: tight end. That’s right, while Dallas Goedert is back for the 2026 NFL season – albeit because he would have cost over $20 million in dead money against the cap if he signed anywhere else – and the Eagles handed new, low-risk contracts to Grant Calcaterra, Johnny Mundt, and Stone Smartt, they need a long-term player to build around for the future just like they did in 2018 when Zach Ertz was approaching the end of the road during his tenure in the City of Brotherly Love.

The Eagles have options at tight end in the weak 2026 NFL Draft

As a whole, the 2026 NFL Draft is considered relatively weak. While there are a few blue-chip prospects, most of them play non-premium positions, with five of the best players available, Jeremiyah Love, Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese, and Olaivavega Ioane, all set to become top-30 paid players at their positions right away if they are drafted in single digits.

Another player who firmly falls into that category is Kenyon Sadiq, the Oregon tight end who turned in arguably the best NFL Combine showing by a player at his position of all time. If Sadiq were to fall to the Eagles at pick No. 23, which, at this point, feels rather unlikely, he will earn $3.5 million in 2026, according to Spotrac, which ranks 40th league-wide among tight ends.

Is Sadiq worth that level of investment? Most certainly so; while his production isn’t as impressive as last year’s first-round tight ends, Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren, and he only really produced at a starting level for one season, he’s a do-it-all tight end who can block and catch passes from on or off the line of scrimmage. Sadiq is athletic enough to be deployed out of the backfield on wheel routes like Warren, fiesty enough to moonlight as a do-it-all fullback in the run game, and even has some talent evaluators imagining a world where he kicks it outside to play some X wide receiver in the pursuit of offensive mismatches.

If Sadiq is there at 23 or the Eagles want to make a reasonably priced trade up to lock him down like they did last spring with Jihaad Campbell, few fans will compain, but what happens if Sadiq is gone, drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers at No. 22, the Baltimore Ravens at No. 14, or even the Kansas City Chiefs at pick No. 9, making him the 28th-highest paid tight end right out of the gates? Well, there are options, just none as good as the former Oregon Duck.

While Sadiq is widely considered the only first-round tight end in this year’s class, the No. 2 tight end is probably Ohio State’s Max Klare, who could very well be there when the Eagles are on the board in the second round. Klare is bigger than Sadiq at 6-foot-4, 246 pounds, and can do similar things in the passing game when aligned from a “normal” tight end spot, either in line or deployed in the slot.

A three-year player at Purdue before transferring to Ohio State in 2025, Klare caught 43 balls for 448 yards and two touchdowns in 2025, a minor dip from his 2024 high-water mark – 51 catches for 685 yards and four touchdowns – as the unquestioned focal point of the Boilermakers’ offense. Klare may not be a ready-made blocker at the NFL level just yet, but he has upside and could become the Eagles’ next long-term tight end to build their offense around alongside Smith, Jalen Hurts, and company.

From there, there are two more tight ends worthy of a Day 2 selection in Eli Stowers of Vanderbilt and Sam Roush from Stanford. Stowers is more of a move tight end, who began his career as a tight end before pulling a Felipe Frank during his time in Tennessee. Stowers caught 111 balls for 1,407 yards and nine touchdowns over his two seasons at Vanderbilt, showcased a very exciting style of play more akin to a running back in space than a rigid “old school” tight end, and even got off a few passes as a trick play threat, forcing opposing defenses to keep that option in the back of their mind, even if it only happened a few times each season. While he won’t be much of a blocker on Day 1, he is a certified weapon and could be a force in an Eagles offense that was way down pretty much across the board in YAC last season.

And as for Roush? Well, he’s basically the opposite player of Stowers in every way, a throwback blocking tight end who could be a weapon for the Eagles’ offense even when the ball isn’t in his hands. In his fourth season with Stanford, Roush caught a career-high 49 balls for 545 yards and two touchdowns while contributing to a Stanford running game that produced 1014 yards on the ground under ex-Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, firmly placing him in that Round 3 conversation, where Philadelphia has two picks at the moment. Roush’s throwback style may turn off some teams looking for a joker option at the position, for the Eagles, who now run Sean Mannion’s offense, he could fit into the mold established by Tucker Kraft, who was also called a block-first tight end coming out of college before being drafted by the Green Bay Packers.

Can the Eagles land their tight end of the future next month in Pittsburgh? Maybe yes, maybe no, but there are certainly some interesting options on the table for Roseman and company to consider, depending on how the board breaks.

The post Eagles’ biggest need to address in 2026 NFL Draft after failing to find it in free agency appeared first on ClutchPoints.