Philadelphia’s makeover apparently will include not only trading Carson Wentz but also Zach Ertz. A Sports Illustrated report indicates the Eagles are discussing the tight end with both Seattle and Indianapolis.
Ed Kracz says a deal with the Colts potentially would include both Wentz and Ertz, re-uniting those players with Frank Reich. With the Seahawks, it’s reasonable to conclude they’re looking to upgrade the position. They didn’t get enough out of Will Dissly and Jacob Hollister last year. They signed Greg Olsen to a big free-agent contract in last spring, but that didn’t work out.
Ertz shouldn’t cost much. With the Eagles looking to shed salary and transition to Dallas Goedert, they would like to move the veteran. For 2021, he’s got a base salary of $8.2 million and a cap number of $12.4 million. He doesn’t fit into what they’re trying to do (particularly with them switching quarterbacks). And Ertz is a 30-year-old coming off a down season.
Ertz in 2020 caught only 36 passes in 11 games, and with just one touchdown. He missed over a month with an ankle injury, but he wasn’t playing all that well even before his injury.
I like the sound of "Hurts to Ertz", but I don't think we'll be hearing it.
For those considering trading for Ertz, the hope is that he gets back to being something more like what he was in the previous five seasons, when he caught at least 74 passes every year. Ertz caught 8 TDs in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. In the 2018 season, he caught 116 passes, the most ever by a tight end. When the Eagles won their Super Bowl, beating the Patriots, it was Ertz who caught the game-winning touchdown late in the game.
Over the last five years, Ertz has four of the best 25 seasons by tight ends (that’s using PPR scoring).
| BEST TIGHT END SEASONS (last 5 years) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | G | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR |
| 2020 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | 15 | 105 | 1,416 | 13.5 | 11 | 314.8 |
| 2018 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | 16 | 103 | 1,336 | 13.0 | 10 | 296.6 |
| 2020 | Darren Waller, L.V. | 16 | 107 | 1,196 | 11.2 | 9 | 282.6 |
| 2018 | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 16 | 116 | 1,163 | 10.0 | 8 | 280.3 |
| 2018 | George Kittle, S.F. | 16 | 88 | 1,377 | 15.7 | 5 | 258.7 |
| 2019 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | 16 | 97 | 1,229 | 12.7 | 6 | 256.3 |
| 2017 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | 15 | 83 | 1,038 | 12.5 | 8 | 235.5 |
| 2017 | Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | 14 | 69 | 1,084 | 15.7 | 8 | 227.4 |
| 2018 | Eric Ebron, Ind. | 16 | 66 | 750 | 11.4 | 14 | 224.2 |
| 2016 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | 16 | 85 | 1,125 | 13.2 | 4 | 223.0 |
| 2019 | Darren Waller, Oak. | 16 | 90 | 1,145 | 12.7 | 3 | 223.0 |
| 2019 | George Kittle, S.F. | 14 | 85 | 1,053 | 12.4 | 5 | 222.5 |
| 2019 | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 15 | 88 | 916 | 10.4 | 6 | 217.6 |
| 2019 | Mark Andrews, Balt. | 15 | 64 | 852 | 13.3 | 10 | 209.2 |
| 2016 | Kyle Rudolph, Min. | 16 | 83 | 840 | 10.1 | 7 | 209.0 |
| 2016 | Greg Olsen, Car. | 16 | 80 | 1,073 | 13.4 | 3 | 207.3 |
| 2017 | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 14 | 74 | 824 | 11.1 | 8 | 204.4 |
| 2018 | Jared Cook, Oak. | 16 | 68 | 896 | 13.2 | 6 | 193.6 |
| 2016 | Jimmy Graham, Sea. | 16 | 65 | 923 | 14.2 | 6 | 193.3 |
| 2019 | Austin Hooper, Atl. | 13 | 75 | 787 | 10.5 | 6 | 191.7 |
| 2016 | Delanie Walker, Ten. | 15 | 65 | 800 | 12.3 | 7 | 188.1 |
| 2016 | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 14 | 78 | 816 | 10.5 | 4 | 183.6 |
| 2017 | Delanie Walker, Ten. | 16 | 74 | 807 | 10.9 | 4 | 178.5 |
| 2020 | T.J. Hockenson, Det. | 16 | 67 | 723 | 10.8 | 6 | 177.3 |
| 2020 | Logan Thomas, Was. | 16 | 72 | 670 | 9.3 | 6 | 176.9 |
| 2020 | Robert Tonyan, G.B. | 16 | 52 | 586 | 11.3 | 11 | 176.6 |
| 2017 | Evan Engram, NYG | 15 | 64 | 722 | 11.3 | 6 | 173.6 |
| 2017 | Jack Doyle, Ind. | 15 | 80 | 690 | 8.6 | 4 | 173.0 |
| 2017 | Jimmy Graham, Sea. | 16 | 57 | 520 | 9.1 | 10 | 171.0 |
| 2016 | Cameron Brate, T.B. | 15 | 57 | 660 | 11.6 | 8 | 171.0 |
—Ian Allan