Eagles

The Curious Case Of Cam Latu And The Eagles Use Of Tight Ends

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Paul Bowman
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Paul Bowman Sports Editor

Penn State Great Valley MBA, Penn State Berks Undergrad, Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor, IT Service Manager. I joined Sports Talk Philly in 2017 and root for all the Philly teams (as well as their minor league counter parts).

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Sports Editor

Published02 Dec 2025

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Cameron Latu Celebration

Nick Sirianni told reporters after another brutal loss on Friday that he’d look at “all potential” changes, though none that would involve hurting the feelings of someone he’s friends with. That’s strictly off the table despite looking at everything.

And perhaps that same blind loyalty has been hindering the offense in another way – via the tight ends.

Cameron (Cam) Latu joined the team in September and made the most of two elevations from the practice squad showing he excelled at blocking and that lead to his being signed to the active roster when the first rash of injuries hit the Eagles.

He continued to show up with that blocked punt that got returned for a touchdown in Tampa Bay the week he was signed to the active roster.

Despite that work paying off, he remains limited to special teams for the most part, playing just 54 offensive snaps over 11 games. Many of those are examples of why he should be playing more. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a clip of him failing his block.

In the Packers game, his limited snaps sealed edges and he even had a pass blocking snap where he (36) stood up Micah Parsons 1-on-1, allowing Hurts to escape the pocket:

Before that, he even had made waves for obliterating Charles Omenihu against the Chiefs:

Late in the Vikings game, he sealed his side of the edge for a Saquon Barkley run. It’s a bad rep from Goedert, but had he been able to hold that block, Latu had held his block and Barkley could have been off to the races.

Against the Rams, he had an impressive snap where he knocked down the CB Forbes as Hurts ran to the outside with one hand before getting another second-level block. The run went for about 15 yards.

In the Cowboys loss, he saw only one snap and sealed the edge, making it one man for Barkley to beat to the outside. A seven-yard gain which would be Barkley’s longest of the game.

Against the Bears, the Eagles offense finally put Latu out on passing plays, which caught the Bears defense shifting and pushing up the field for run defense and left Hurts will some of his easiest passes for a 100% completion rating even despite it being arguably the worst game of his career in the past two years.

Meanwhile, the Eagles are bent on keeping Grant Calcaterra out there as the TE2.

The reasoning is unclear to anyone outside the building beyond guesses that he’s college buddies with Hurts and has been with the team for years for Sirianni to be loyal to him.

Despite that, he’s turned 260 offensive snaps this season into just 48 receiving yards despite being a pass-catching tight end. As the pass-catching backup, he averages 4.8 yards per game and, honestly, his blocking loses the Eagles more than that per game.

Take the Lions game, for example, where Calcaterra saw 34 offensive snaps (0 receptions) and Latu saw just one. 

You’ll notice Calcaterra (81) whiffing on both blocks in the video – on the first he is meant to seal the edge but fails to get there before Barkley, who is tackled for little gain by the player Calcaterra should have blocked. On the second, Calcaterra hits the exact same hole that Barkley does – there are two defenders there and Calcaterra ignores the one to his left and literally ducks underneath the one on his right, actively avoiding the player he should be blocking and allowing both players he ran right by to tackle Barkley:

In his lone offensive snap during that game, Latu seals the edge by blocking Aiden Hutchinson one-on-one to create the whole for Barkley to get the six-yard gain and nearly a touchdown.

Some other examples of Calcaterra “blocking” this season:

A few pass blocking reps by the tight end, leading to a couple sacks:

Or go back to the Buccaneers game and you can see both players on the field at the same time.

On this touchdown screen, Calcaterra is lined up as the lead blocker and winds up being the only player to not make his block. It works out because that player can’t get to Goedert before he crosses the goal line anyway. Meanwhile, Cam Latu seals the linebacker Lavonte David from cuttting inside and hitting Goedert around the 1 and a half yard line:

At this point, it’s essentially just plain coaching malpractice that Latu isn’t the TE2 on this roster and used more regularly – especially with his having successful pass blocking snaps under his belt against one of the best pass rushers in the league.

He may not have the ability to be a top pass-catching tight end (he hasn’t recorded any receptions in the NFL, though he also hasn’t ever been targeted), but is the 48 yards over 10 games that Calcaterra is providing really worth more than Saquon Barkley’s runs all going for 0-1 yards instead of the 5-6 that they can go for with a real blocker on the field?

Beyond that, the team also has Kylen Granson seemingly in the TE3 role, and he gets nearly three times the snaps of Latu (157 on offense) and he’s added three catches for 10 yards and, while a more effective blocker than Calcaterra, has several of his own whiffs this season not knowing who he should be blocking.

There has been a lot of talk about the injures offensive line and the failure to establish the run game and how that has impacted Hurts and the passing game.

Guess what? You have a FB/TE sitting there who could play a lot more snaps and not only ensure every run is more successfully blocked (and probably gains significantly more yardage), but who has shown pass blocking ability and who’s mere presence makes teams question whether the Birds will really throw the ball with such an effective blocker out there.

And of course, one change won’t magically make the offense suddenly work – but it seems like a very obvious change to make to help get things going in the right direction. One of many and perhaps that should be quick and easy to implement compared to other issues.

It’s a very curious case – and Eagles fans need to make it more of an issue for the coaching staff to hear why they are letting an elite blocker sit on the bench and sending out one of the leagues worst blockers week after week for more snaps and to attempt more blocks.