Eagles Select Eli Stowers With 54th Pick In NFL Draft
Eli Stowers celebrates a touchdown against Georgia Tech on Dec. 27, 2024. (Hustler Multimedia/Miguel Beristain)
Eagles fans, meet your future starting tight end.
With the 54th selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles have selected Eli Stowers, a tight end from Vanderbilt University.
It’s another second-round tight end for Howie Roseman, who previously selected Dallas Goedert in the second round in 2018 and Zach Ertz in 2013.
Stowers, a 6’3, 239 lbs tight end from Denton, Texas, was a standout player for the Commodores during his two seasons in Nashville, being a favorite target of former Heisman finalist quarterback Diego Pavia. Before playing for Vanderbilt, Stowers played alongside Pavia at New Mexico State, playing quarterback, tight end, and wide receiver before eventually losing the job to Pavia and then following him to Vanderbilt. He played his first two years of college ball at Texas A&M.
This past season, Stoweers was the John Mackey Award winner, which goes to the nation’s top tight end, and was also named an AP First Team All-American. In 2025, he totaled 62 receptions for 769 yards and four touchdowns. In two seasons at Vanderbilt, Stowers totaled 111 receptions for 1407 yards and nine total touchdowns.
Called more of just an athlete, Stowers is a fantastic pass catcher and dominates the run-after-catch category. His route running and blocking are the big weaknesses, but he makes up for them by being a dominant pass catcher. Stowers joins a tight end room led by Dallas Goedert (who is only on a one-year deal), Stone Smartt, Johnny Mundt, and Grant Calcaterra. He also joins first-round pick Makai Lemon as the second pass-catcher the Eagles have drafted in the 2026 draft.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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