Wow! After a tumultuous offseason of drama, turnover, and chaos, one question lingered in Eagles fans’ minds: What’s the deal with Zach Ertz? The 30-year-old tight end was seen talking to QB Carson Wentz and C Jason Kelce after a Week 17 loss to Washington, leaving us to wonder where the three of them would end up. After the dust settled, 2/3 of them will be Philadelphia Eagles in 2021!
What happened?
The Eagles gave Zach Ertz permission to seek a trade on March 16th. After a down season where he spent most of his time nursing injuries, the Eagles were more than ready to move forward. Young stud Dallas Goedert would be the TE1. After all, we had gotten a new coach and new QB1, and Ertz was seen as a part of the last regime that we had just moved on from.
Ertz would be a nice one-year rental for a contending team at a discounted price. There were numerous deadlines set for when he would be traded and to whom. The media claimed he would be traded by the end of draft weekend to Jacksonville. That passed. Then it was before camp to Buffalo. That passed too. Ertz was getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of movement in his trade talks.
Zach still wanted a trade going into camp but promised he would remain a professional and still give his all. That all changed when this afternoon, the Philly Legend announced that this camp was his best in his 9-year career and that he apologized and wants to remain an Eagle. Huzzah!
What about Dallas?
With this news, a new question arises: what about Goedert? This was going to be his TE1 breakout year, right? Yes and no. While Goedert was (and still is) favored to be the starter, especially with Ertz’s future in the air, he was never going to be alone. Coach Sirianni has notably been a fan of two-tight end sets. In Indy, He always had a full tight end room with guys like Jack Doyle, Eric Ebron, Mo Alie-Cox, and Philly favorite Trey Burton. This had mixed results for individual stats, but the tight ends always were productive. So even if Ertz were traded, another quality tight end would end up in Philly. So if you own Goedert in fantasy, you do not have to drop him. He will still see his time and could end up having a 2018 Ebron-like season at his peak.
As for Ertz, I still think he is the TE2. Despite all he has done for Philly, I think it is imperative to let Goedert get the first-team reps as we try to extend him. Ertz will only be here for one more year, it seems, and having him as a mentor first is vital. Don’t get me wrong, a Sirianni TE2 is still productive, but do not expect any 100 reception seasons as we saw with Wentz. It is still possible he moves on by the trade deadline, but we do not have to think about that right now. He wants to be in Philly, and that is that.
This news serves as a huge boost to this young offense. Welcome back, Zach.
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Jish Sokolsky is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Jish, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
