Philadelphia Eagles fans want TE Dallas Goedert to change first name

South Dakota State tight end Dallas Goedert was pleased to be picked by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2018 NFL Draft, but that doesn't mean he plans to change his first name.

Goedert was named by his parents who were fans of the Dallas Cowboys.

"My Twitter has been blowing up, and I think there are a few 'Go Fund Mes' to change my name from Dallas to Philly," Goedert said. "So we're going to have a little bit of trouble with that, but hopefully I can make enough plays that they'll get over it."

The Eagles traded with the Indianapolis Colts to move up in the draft and select Goedert with the 49th overall pick -- one spot ahead of the Cowboys. The Colts received the 52nd and the 169th picks from Philadelphia.

"I think as soon as I got drafted, all 1,200 people in Britain, my hometown, are all Eagles fans now," Goedert said. "So I'm sure there will be flags flying around. There will be Goedert, [Carson] Wentz, [Zach] Ertz, everybody's jerseys in the town, so it's going to be a lot of fun there."

The Eagles are thin at tight end behind Ertz, as the club released Brent Celek in March and lost Trey Burton -- of Philly Special fame in Super Bowl LII -- in free agency to the Chicago Bears on a four-year, $32 million contract.

Goedert, who on Saturday held up the No. 88 jersey that recently belonged to Burton, posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2016 and 2017 and had 13 touchdown catches in that time span.

"He's a tremendous player, a tremendous asset and a weapon for us that I think we can utilize with some of the things you saw last year with Trey Burton, and having him on the field as well with Zach," Eagles coach Doug Pederson said.

"He's got some refining to do. We move our [tight ends] around a lot. He's going to be a good fit for us, a good fit for the [tight end] room. Zach's going to be a great mentor to him."

Listed at 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds, Goedert was listed by NFLDraftScout.com's Dane Brugler as the top small-school prospect from non-FBS programs heading into the draft.

"Goedert has the physical skill-set, dependable ball skills and motivated make-up to develop into a starting NFL tight end capable of pushing for Pro Bowl consideration," Brugler wrote.