Zach Ertz clashed with Eagles brass and endured his worst NFL season in 2020, but the Pro Bowl tight end said last month he wants to stay in Philadelphia. It appears that is unlikely.
The eight-year tight end is bracing to be traded or released in the near future, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (on Twitter). This comes as the quarterback who has thrown the most passes to Ertz throughout his career is on course to leave Philly as well.
Carson Wentz, however, remains an Eagle. Momentum for a Wentz trade appears to have stalled, with the Eagles’ Matthew Stafford-esque asking price not being met. But, one way or another, Wentz and Ertz are on track to be elsewhere next season.
Ertz, 30, caught just 36 passes for a career-low 335 yards and one touchdown last season. The three-time Pro Bowler and NFL single-season record holder for receptions by a tight end (116 in 2018) both struggled and battled injury, missing time due to a high ankle sprain. Coming into the season, Ertz and the Eagles broke off extension talks. He and GM Howie Roseman engaged in a heated discussion at a practice, with the Eagles’ lack of interest in giving Ertz Travis Kelce– or George Kittle–level money likely factoring into this breakdown. The Eagles have Dallas Goedert as a younger option, but he is now heading into a contract year.
The Eagles restructured Ertz’s through-2021 contract twice, most recently in 2019. As a result, they would incur $7MM-plus in dead cap charges if they released Ertz. A Wentz trade will cost Philly a record $33MM in dead money. Ertz is due an $8.25MM salary next season, should the Eagles find a taker for his contract. Only the Saints have a worse cap situation, as of Saturday, with the Eagles projected to be more than $45MM over the 2021 salary ceiling.
This was already known. His replacement is on the roster
He can stay in Philly. It’s called retiring. Got a ring, cash, & job opportunities (or should have them by now).
He’s still a good player. There’s no reason for him to retire early.
he’s not retiring, gonna go play for the Cowboys.
Cowboys, like many other teams, have monumental cap issues which will mean purging some team talent further, especially since they still have their Dak issues ahead of them…..doubtful acquisition at best given their roster issues……more likely, he will want to play for a team that has a playoff roster and can win it all as his career begins to wind down.
Gosh this Ertz
Wouldn’t shock me if he signs with a team like Cincy or New England
Right lol. Or baltimore, bears, packers etc.
He’ll go somewhere else and have a few good years left in him
There’s a dearth of quality TE around the league. They should be able to put him in a trade .
Not at his current contract
got a feeling he might be part of a trade with Wentz going to Indianapolis. the colts told the Eagles if they want to first round pick they got to send something else other than Wentz. possibly Carson and Zach to Indy for the 21st pick and a third round pick this year or a second in 2022
If they trade both Wentz and Ertz to Indy it better be more then 2 picks, unless they are both 1st rounders. If the agree on 2 picks, a young valuable player should be included. ( WR- Pittman, LB- Leonard,) someone who is 25 or under so they would be here when we become relevant again. Trading Wentz is going to set us back for a few years.
Keeping Wentz would set you back a few more years…
I wouldn’t give you Leonard on his rookie deal for Wentz, Ertz And their contracts straight up. Let alone throwing in high draft picks. Get real dude.
Goff just had two firsts attach to get out of his horrible extension. He been better than Wentz whose about to start his own horrible extension. There’s no way Eagles get a first for him and they’re not getting multiple picks by throwing in a currently overpriced TE they’ll end up cutting
The fact that trading Wentz would set you back a few years is not the acquiring teams problem. Another team is not going to pay more just because the Eagles made a stupid decision and Wentz has fallen apart
Jags
He’ll go to a contender or at least a team with a shot at playoffs. Green Bay would be a good landing spot. Maybe Arizona.
Both good options and could use the TE help.
It would be interesting to know the reason for the performance drop-off. Was it injury, age, or simply disinterest?
Horrible quarterback play
Ertz dropped quite a few passes this year. He also struggled to get open and did get injured as well. I cannot blame his quarterbacks for his play in any of the games I saw. Goedert was very much the superior tight end for Philadelphia this year before his injury, with the same quarterback play that Ertz received. Ertz likely will be of good use to another team, but he was noticeably worse this year in Philly.
While Ertz and Wentz obviously had down years, they didn’t just all of a sudden forget how to play ball or lose whatever skills they had that brought them so much success. Poor play all around on offense and injuries had a ton to do with it. When you have garbage WRs that can’t spread the defense and poor playcalling stretch the field it’s much easier to focus on Ertz.
the WRs werent amazing but they also got very few catchable balls this year.
Because they were never open. The WRs played much, much worse (with the limited exception of Fulgham) than any group outside of the O-line. We can talk about bad balls or TEs all we like, but when a QB has to get the ball out in a second instead of two and his receivers are penned up or running nonsensical route combinations, you will definitely see bad balls. And the more this happens, and the more the QB has to step up and take control, the worse his own decisions get.
The QBs would have had to compensate for the line, the receivers, and the inconsistency from the tight ends all while worrying about his level of play. Sure, Wentz was bad, but there was no chance for him not to be because his help let him down…this is all without mentioning Pederson’s total inability or disinterest in trying to help make the situation any better for anyone. That’s why Pederson is gone-everyone played badly but there was seemingly no attempt to try and find out what could work and build on that. To me, this was apparent in some form last year as well, but the talent wasn’t shredded by injuries then.
Ryan Pace likes to have at least 10 TEs on the depth chart so I imagine Ertz could be in a Bears uniform very soon.
Can’t argue with your thinking on this lol