Zach Ertz has had a change of heart. In his first public comments of the offseason, the tight end told reporters that he wants to stay with the Eagles. 
“This is the place I want to be, this is the place I want to retire,” Ertz said (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). “I’m moving on from everything that happened this offseason. There have been apologies…I love this city too much to burn it down.”
Ertz added that things have been “mended” with the team, so it sounds like all is well for the time being. It’s a huge turnaround from where things were just weeks ago. The three-time Pro Bowler pushed for a trade and, while he still reported to training camp, his Philly future was in doubt. The Eagles tried to oblige, but they couldn’t find a suitable deal for Ertz or his contract.
Ertz, 31 in November, is coming off of a down year. Now, with one season to go on his five-year, $42.5MM deal, he’s willing to stick it out. It remains to been seen whether Ertz will get an extension to help smooth things over, or whether he’ll be comfortable with his role in the long run. Once a focal point of the Eagles’ offense, Ertz figures to cede many of his targets to Dallas Goedert.
well at least SOMEONE wants to stay in Philly
“..had a change of heart” in other words-no one else wanted him so he better stop crying. It takes one hell of an ego to say that leaving would result in burning the city down.. What a maniac
Lol yup
Not true, just because Philly couldn’t work out a deal to bring back the return they wanted doesn’t mean squat. There’s not a team in the league that wouldn’t want him as TE1 or TE2.
He’s clearly speaking metaphorically, dude. Like when people say ‘burning a bridge’ they don’t mean literally setting a bridge ablaze.
Now they’ll trade him…
Exactly! That was the first thought that came to mind when it was reported that Jamison Crowder was nowhere to be found at Jets practice today.
A real class act. I hope he finishes his career here, but he’d probably have to take a team-friendly deal to do so.