Eli Stowers is the second tight end off the board and the first tight end you should actually want on your roster. The Vanderbilt product went in the third round to Philadelphia, and the combination of landing spot, quarterback, and depth chart math makes him a clear win at his 2.04 rookie draft price.
The headline number: zero rookie tight ends in the last decade have walked into a better situation than Stowers is walking into in Philly.
The player
Stowers is 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, and ran a 4.65 at the combine. The athletic profile is solid but not elite. The story is the position transition. He played quarterback at Texas A&M for two years before transferring to Vanderbilt and converting to tight end. His final two seasons produced 1,800 yards combined and 14 touchdowns.
The route running is the surprise. The QB background gave him an above-average understanding of timing and zone coverage holes. His PFF receiving grade as a senior was 87.4, second-best among draft-eligible TEs. The hands grade is in the 90th percentile. The blocking is below average but improving.
The age (23) is the slight knock. He profiles as a polished receiving tight end who can produce immediately, not a developmental project. That matters for the year-one outlook.
The landing spot
Philadelphia took him 79th overall, third round. The TE room is Dallas Goedert (entering his age-31 season, on the final year of his deal, no guaranteed money beyond 2026) and Stowers. Goedert is not on the roster in 2027. Stowers walks into the TE1 job by year two.
The receiver room is the part that flips the analysis. AJ Brown is 29 and signed through 2028. DeVonta Smith is 27 and signed through 2027. Both are productive but neither is going to be the long-term WR1 by 2028. The volume distribution in Philadelphia is changing, and the TE position is going to absorb more of it.
The Eagles ran 12-personnel on 31% of snaps in 2025, eighth in the league. The starting TE in their offense got 96 targets last season. That is TE7 volume by the floor.
The quarterback math
Jalen Hurts is 27, signed through 2030 on the contract extension he just signed, and finished QB4 in his MVP-candidate 2025 season. The quarterback position is locked for the rest of the decade. That is what separates Stowers from every other rookie TE in this class.
The Hurts-to-TE attack is also one of the most productive in the league. Goedert posted TE6 numbers in 2024 and TE8 in 2025, on the back of red zone targets and intermediate routes. Stowers steps into that exact same role.
The math
The trade value engine has Stowers at 52 in Superflex, which is TE19 overall. That is the entry price for a third-round rookie. The historical comparable in this landing produces a TE8 finish by year two roughly 40% of the time, and a TE5 finish by year three roughly 22% of the time.
The trade value of the 2.04 in Superflex is 51. Stowers at 2.04 is a wash on paper and a clear win on the path.
The path
Year one: Stowers gets 35 catches for 380 yards behind Goedert. TE22 finish. Year two: Goedert is gone. Stowers gets 75 catches for 850 yards as the Eagles' TE1. TE7 finish. Year three: The receiving room thins out, Stowers gets 95 catches for 1,000 yards and double-digit touchdowns. TE4 finish.
That arc is the dream scenario for a rookie TE outside the first round, and it is the median outcome for Stowers given his landing.
What can go wrong
The downside is the Goedert extension scenario. If the Eagles re-sign Goedert through 2028 (unlikely, but possible), Stowers' year-two volume gets cut in half. The probability is 15%.
The other risk is the blocking grade. If Stowers cannot improve his run-blocking, he gets capped at 65% of snaps and the volume math gets ugly. The historical position transition rate from QB to TE produces good blockers about 60% of the time, so this is a real concern.
The pick
Take Stowers at 2.04. If you can land him at 2.05 or later, even better. If a manager in your league has Stowers and is willing to move him for a 2.03 plus a 2027 third, take that trade. The path here is the cleanest at the position.
For more on the TE class, see the 2026 rookie tight end class overview, Kenyon Sadiq to the Jets, and the overpriced rookies piece.