The Eagles have two tight ends with uncertain futures. Dallas Goedert is in a contract year. So is Zach Ertz, who spent the offseason as a trade candidate. This situation prompted the Vikings to reach out.
Despite Ertz being the one viewed as on the way out all year, the Vikings proceeded to contact the Eagles on Goedert’s potential availability, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes (ESPN+ link). This inquiry came following the news Irv Smith Jr. would be out for the season.
Smith’s injury altered the Vikings’ tight end plan, but they did not end up prying away Goedert, who is due for free agency in 2022. It is unclear if the Vikes also asked about Ertz, whose $8.5MM 2021 base salary made him a less enticing trade piece than Goedert ($1.2MM).
Regardless, the Eagles opted to keep Goedert, leading the Vikings to acquire Chris Herndon from the Jets in August. Through five games, Herndon does not have a catch with Minnesota. Tyler Conklin, whom the Vikings selected in the 2018 fifth round, has stepped in as Smith’s primary replacement.
Goedert is currently on the Eagles’ reserve/COVID-19 list after testing positive this week. He will not play against the Buccaneers tonight, putting Ertz back in the TE1 position he held for years. At multiple junctures this offseason, Ertz believed he would be traded, Fowler adds. But he and Nick Sirianni established a strong rapport. This and the Eagles viewing themselves as a potential contender scuttled an offseason trade.
Seven-point underdogs against the Bucs, the Eagles would drop to 2-4 with a loss. That could put an Ertz trade back on the front burner. This year’s deadline is Nov. 2. Ertz and the Eagles were unable to come to terms on an extension during an acrimonious 2020, and his value has since declined after a down 2020 season. Ertz, however, changed his tune about staying in Philadelphia. Just before the season, Ertz said he wanted to retire an Eagle. The 30-year-old pass catcher has 14 receptions for 160 yards and a touchdown this season.
Eagles viewed themselves as a contender??
In the NFC East? That isn’t an absurd though process to have, at least going into the season. Dallas still had the horrible defense from last season, no one knew what the Giants were gonna look like, and Washington had its share of off the field problems as per usual. Washington seemed to have the best position based on winning the division last year, but people legitimately thought you could see any of the four teams win going into the season.
Seems to me that Howie torpedoed Ertz’ value as part of the negotiations and then everything just snowballed from there with last season’s Covid-19, a poor season and injuries all together. And now the same is happening to Goedert. The Eagles should’ve embraced having 2 very good TEs and have them work off each other. They didn’t, so they could’ve ditched Ertz and made Goedert the go to TE that will stick around but didn’t again, now they’re looking at both running their way out of town. Horrible handling of these guys by Howie.
And so it begins, Ertz now dealt to the Cards…we’ll see how Howie handles the Goedert negotiations moving forward.