The Chicago Bears have spent all season as a team people expected to shop from at tight end. Now the conversation has flipped. With Cole Kmet injured and rookie Sam Roush still raising questions, the Bears are being mentioned as a team that might need to add at the position before the trade deadline.
One name that keeps coming up is Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert.
Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report called Chicago a strong fit for a possible Goedert deal, pointing to the veteran’s contract and trade value. “Goedert is also 31 years old, though, and is playing on a one-year, $7 million deal,” wrote Knox, discussing a deal.
“Trading him now would make sense if Roseman is ready to pack it in for the year. He'd probably net a high Day 3 selection in a trade.”
Knox also connected the Bears to Goedert because of the way Ben Johnson uses his offense. Chicago has leaned on multiple-tight-end looks all season, and that kind of usage is part of why Goedert has surfaced as a possible target.
“Ben Johnson has regularly used formations that feature two or three tight ends this season, and while Kmet wasn't a focal point of the passing attack, he was a great ancillary target who provided offensive flexibility,” added Knox. “Goedert would be a great replacement for the remainder of the season.”
There is some pushback to that idea, though. The Bears used a third-round pick on Roush, and Johnson has already said he is high on the rookie and plans to give him a chance to earn more work. That makes it difficult to see Chicago giving up on him this quickly.
There is also the broader question of whether the Bears should even be looking to double down on tight ends at all. According to SumerSports, Chicago runs two-tight end sets at the third-highest rate in the NFL, but those looks have not produced the kind of results the team wants. The Bears are 16th in passing efficiency and 28th in rushing efficiency when they use them.
By contrast, when they add a third wide receiver instead of a second tight end, the results improve dramatically. Chicago uses those formations at the 25th-highest rate, yet they rank eighth in passing efficiency and fourth in rushing efficiency out of them. In other words, the tight-end-heavy approach has not been doing enough.
So the Bears are left with a few different paths. They could go after a cheaper tight end, they could make a run at an established name like Goedert, or they could simply lean harder into the three-wide receiver sets that have worked best for them.
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