It’s the slow part of the Summer. After the NFL Draft and minicamps and before the start of training camp, things slow to a trickle. Coaches and players are resting up before the marathon that is the NFL season begins. Heck, even beat writers and reporters tend to take their vacations around this time. We haven’t had much in terms of news in several weeks now, but we do have yet another Zach Ertz rumor to talk about.
WIP’s Howard Eskin is saying there is a “great chance” that Ertz will be on the team at the start of the season:
Now, a few things here. For starters, you have to take every Howard Eskin report with a grain of salt. He is plugged in with the Eagles and even travels with the team, but he’s also a mouthpiece for the team and is, somehow, often wrong anyway. Perhaps more noteworthy here are the two nuggets that Eskin somewhat buried in his Tweet: that Ertz is “over the issues” he had with the team and has already been working out at the team facility.
We have all assumed since the middle of last season that Ertz was going to be traded at some point. Different rumors have popped up multiple times over the last several months, but nothing ever happened. Now, we’re getting closer and closer to the start of training camp, and he’s still on the roster. Howie Roseman remains steadfast on his stance that he won’t release Ertz or trade him away for less than what he feels is fair value.
The rest of the NFL apparently isn’t budging, either.
So, Ertz remains on the roster, and it sounds like he will play nice (and collect his money) and show up to training camp. It’s an awkward situation, and it isn’t ideal for anyone. The veteran tight end has a $12.72 million cap number, but the Eagles can save $8.5 million in cap space by trading or releasing him. Either of those two things is still possible as we head into training camp.
Further complicating matters is that the Eagles have Dallas Goedert entering a contract year. Goedert presumably would like to be a No. 1 tight end in the NFL and be compensated like one. If the Eagles and Goedert don’t agree to a contract extension before the start of the season, Goedert will need to show the rest of the NFL that he is worthy of a significant investment in free agency. The Eagles, for their part, will be one of those teams considering such an investment. But Goedert needs to start and play starting tight end snaps in order for that to happen.
If Zach Ertz sticks around for the 2021 season, he’s going to play at least a part-time role. And that will eat into Goedert’s snaps unless this coaching staff is going to commit to running 12 personnel as much as the previous regime did (they aren’t).
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Mike Maher is the editor and publisher of The Birds Blitz and Juiced Ball Era. Follow him on Twitter @mikeMaher and @TheBirdsBlitz and check out his Eagles news archive for all of his latest stories about the Eagles and the NFL.
