Before the 2023 season, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters: “I believe Johnny Mundt is the best third tight end in the NFL.” I could not say it better myself. And O’Connell said it like it was a compliment, because it was meant to be one!
Mundt has never caught 20 passes in a season. He has never cracked 200 receiving yards in his career. He has spent nine years in the NFL, bouncing between the Rams, Vikings, and Jaguars and remaining almost entirely invisible to casual fans. He is the kind of player whose value is understood completely by the people inside the building and barely at all by those outside it.
The Eagles’ signing him is not a headline move. But in the context of what Sean Mannion is building offensively and what this tight end room desperately needed after a 2025 season in which the position was a complete disaster, it might end up being an important move. Let’s get into why.
Strengths
The Blocking!
Where else could we start! This is where Mundt earns his playing time. His blocking technique is outstanding, and he can play various blocking roles despite not being the biggest. His film is quite interesting because you expect a blocking tight end to be bigger and physical, whereas Mundt wins in different ways.
His hand placement is excellent, and he wins leverage battles against defenders who are often significantly more powerful than he is. What separates him further is his ability to sustain. He doesn’t just initiate contact and hope; he finishes blocks because he plays with outstanding effort. In duo and gap schemes, he works seamlessly from initial double-teams to second-level blocks, and his size actually helps him here. He is at his best against linebackers and defensive backs, without a doubt.
His work in the Jacksonville run game in 2025 showed his strengths. On outside runs, he was especially strong blocking linebackers and defensive backs on the move. His backside responsibility was handled cleanly and consistently, cutting off edge rushers and preventing backside pursuit.
He has the lateral quickness to execute reach blocks against defensive ends in outside zone, which is a specific and difficult assignment that many blocking tight ends simply cannot handle reliably. Reach blocking requires anticipating the defender’s path and getting outside his frame before he can close down the lane. Mundt’s lateral agility and processing speed make him effective at it, which matters enormously in the zone-heavy rushing attack Mannion is building around Saquon Barkley. I think that is a huge reason the Eagles signed him. We know they are going to run a lot more outside zone next season.
Blocking in Space!
What elevates Mundt beyond a simple inline technician is his blocking in space. This might actually be his best trait. He is excellent in split-flow actions, crossing the formation to block a backside edge defender, leading a bootleg, or blocking out in space on a pass play. He almost never gets caught in the wash, and he has a knack for avoiding traffic.
I expected to see a big physical inline blocker, but the more I watched Mundt, the more I changed my mind. He’s much quicker and better in space than I expected. He will be an asset in the screen game and should help the Eagles’ offense in the quick game, too.
Pass Protection
Mundt’s value in protection extends beyond his run blocking. He is an effective chipper against premier pass rushers. I watched the Raiders game, and he had a few outstanding reps against Maxx Crosby, in which he absorbed his initial contact and disrupted his momentum.
That’s not easy to do against Crosby. That chip ability was used regularly in Jacksonville, where he was asked to be part of pass protection packages against high-end edge defenders. For a 243-pound tight end, the fact that he can hold up in those situations is pretty impressive. He is not winning those reps with mass strength, but he wins with high effort and technique. Speaking of effort…
Effort
Mundt is one of those players who does everything with intensity. He knows he isn’t the biggest or best athlete, and he’s had a long career because he plays hard. His effort level never dips. He plays like his job depends on every rep, which, at his level in the pecking order, it always has.
Weaknesses
Receiving
Let’s just be real, Mundt cannot threaten a defense as a receiver in any meaningful way. He lacks the top-end speed and explosive burst to work the seam, and he isn’t going to win a ton of contested catches either. He is not going to win on a contested deep ball, run away from linebackers after the catch, or create the kind of receiving threat that forces a defense to honor him in coverage. He’s just OK.
That is not a problem as long as everyone building the offense understands it. It becomes a problem if the tight end room doesn’t have enough complementary receiving options to prevent defenses from simply ignoring Mundt in coverage and deploying the extra attention elsewhere.
Offensive Predictability Risk
I am all for the Eagles adding a blocking tight end, but the Eagles need to make sure that the defense doesn’t know what they’re getting when he’s on the field. The Eagles had a real issue with this last year. If Sean Mannion is not actively scheming him into the passing game with check-downs, leaks, and delayed releases that force the defense to account for him, his presence essentially allows the defense to expect a run or ignore him in coverage. A tight end who can’t be respected as a receiving option is a liability because an offense can become predictable. But this is on the coaches, because they should know who he is by now.
Mannion’s system is designed to address this by using Mundt’s credibility as a blocker to generate play-action opportunities and middle-of-field voids for the perimeter receivers. But it requires execution and clever play to not become predictable.
Physical Limitations
At 243 pounds, Mundt operates at the lighter end of the spectrum for a player asked to hold up as a true inline blocker. His technique compensates for that limitation almost entirely in standard assignments, but when he is left isolated against an elite, powerful defensive end without help from anyone else, he can be physically overpowered.
His margin for error against the highest-end pass rushers in the league is narrower than it would be with another 15 or 20 pounds of mass. The Eagles will need to be thoughtful about what they ask him to do as a blocker. Sometimes, because of his profile, he can almost be ‘too aggressive’ and overrun the play.
Overall
Mundt has spent his entire nine-year career playing in offenses rooted in the Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan coaching trees. He knows the system. The gap concepts, the zone-blocking principles, the play-action structures, and the 12 and 13 personnel packages. He has run all of it, repeatedly, for the better part of a decade. When Mannion starts installing his system, Mundt is not a player who needs to learn it. He is a player who can help teach it.
That system translator value is significant in a room that may include younger or less-experienced tight ends who are learning a new offensive language. Mundt becomes a living reference point. He will be the player who has run these concepts correctly, knows the spacing, understands the blocking assignments from every alignment, and can reinforce the installation every week. Mannion’s scheme will lead to an increase in under-center formations. This change will require an inline tight end who is completely comfortable as a blocker, and Mundt is precisely that player.
A significant offensive weakness in 2025 was the Eagles’ inability to attack the intermediate middle of the field. I expect the Eagles to use play-action at a much higher rate, and the effectiveness of play-action is directly tied to how seriously the run is respected by linebackers. When Mundt is blocking, linebackers will have to honor it. He does not need to catch the play-action pass. He needs to make the play-action fake believable.
That Kevin O’Connell quote will follow Mundt for the rest of his career, partly because it is a little funny, but mostly because it is accurate in a way that manages to be both a little bit of a criticism and a compliment at the same time. If the Eagles use him correctly, he will be an excellent signing. Not a flashy one. But right now, for what this offense is building, that is exactly what was needed.
Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment below and ask any questions. If you enjoyed this piece, you can find more of my work and podcast here. If you would like to support me further, please check out my Patreon here!
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