I saw a story this week that the Eagles are looking to move up in the first round of the draft. Philadelphia previously moved down in a trade with Miami, but now they're hoping to yo-yo back up. Or not. Maybe they're leaking a bunch of different strategies, or aren't quite sure what they want to do. In any case, it's overshadowed the fact that for some reason Zach Ertz is still on their roster.
Supposedly, multiple teams had contacted the Eagles about a trade, which Philadelphia was open to. But they were reportedly seeking a third-round pick, which isn't going to happen. These reports came out more than month ago. Either Philadelphia is still hoping to use him in a trade (maybe during the draft?), or they'll wind up releasing him. His contract has a base salary of over $8 million, too much for an aging tight end who is no longer the team's best option at the position (that'd be Dallas Goedert). Whatever they say, it's really unlikely he'll be on their roster come training camp.
As recently as 2019, Ertz was putting up some of the best numbers by any tight end, and since he's just 30 years old, no reason to think he's washed up. But in 2020 he had one of the worst seasons by any pass catcher (tight end or wide receiver) in the league.
Last year Ertz had 72 passes thrown his way and caught just 36 of them. Some of that can be attributed to poor quarterbacking (it's not as if he dropped all the incompletions) but a lack of separation could also be the problem. Whatever the case, he had one of the three worst catch rates by any receiver with 60 targets in the league.
| 2020 CATCH RATES, WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT ENDS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | No | Rate | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Robert Tonyan | 59 | 52 | 88.1% | 586 | 11.3 | 11 |
| Curtis Samuel | 97 | 77 | 79.4% | 851 | 11.1 | 3 |
| Chris Godwin | 84 | 65 | 77.4% | 840 | 12.9 | 7 |
| Davante Adams | 149 | 115 | 77.2% | 1374 | 11.9 | 18 |
| Cole Beasley | 107 | 82 | 76.6% | 967 | 11.8 | 4 |
| Stefon Diggs | 166 | 127 | 76.5% | 1535 | 12.1 | 8 |
| George Kittle | 63 | 48 | 76.2% | 634 | 13.2 | 2 |
| Tyler Lockett | 132 | 100 | 75.8% | 1054 | 10.5 | 10 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | 128 | 97 | 75.8% | 831 | 8.6 | 9 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | 72 | 54 | 75.0% | 409 | 7.6 | 1 |
| Julio Jones | 68 | 51 | 75.0% | 771 | 15.1 | 3 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 82 | 61 | 74.4% | 726 | 11.9 | 5 |
| Cooper Kupp | 124 | 92 | 74.2% | 974 | 10.6 | 3 |
| Darren Waller | 145 | 107 | 73.8% | 1196 | 11.2 | 9 |
| Laviska Shenault | 79 | 58 | 73.4% | 600 | 10.3 | 5 |
| Sterling Shepard | 90 | 66 | 73.3% | 656 | 9.9 | 3 |
| Tyler Higbee | 60 | 44 | 73.3% | 521 | 11.8 | 5 |
| Jakobi Meyers | 81 | 59 | 72.8% | 729 | 12.4 | 0 |
| Hunter Renfrow | 77 | 56 | 72.7% | 656 | 11.7 | 2 |
| Antonio Brown | 62 | 45 | 72.6% | 483 | 10.7 | 4 |
| Travis Kelce | 145 | 105 | 72.4% | 1416 | 13.5 | 11 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 160 | 115 | 71.9% | 1407 | 12.2 | 6 |
| Tyler Boyd | 110 | 79 | 71.8% | 841 | 10.6 | 4 |
| Jarvis Landry | 101 | 72 | 71.3% | 840 | 11.7 | 3 |
| Amari Cooper | 130 | 92 | 70.8% | 1114 | 12.1 | 5 |
| Dalton Schultz | 89 | 63 | 70.8% | 615 | 9.8 | 4 |
| Dallas Goedert | 65 | 46 | 70.8% | 524 | 11.4 | 3 |
| Corey Davis | 92 | 65 | 70.7% | 984 | 15.1 | 5 |
| Will Fuller | 75 | 53 | 70.7% | 879 | 16.6 | 8 |
| Justin Jefferson | 125 | 88 | 70.4% | 1400 | 15.9 | 7 |
| Robby Anderson | 136 | 95 | 69.9% | 1096 | 11.5 | 3 |
| Robert Woods | 129 | 90 | 69.8% | 936 | 10.4 | 6 |
| Adam Thielen | 108 | 74 | 68.5% | 925 | 12.5 | 14 |
| Brandin Cooks | 119 | 81 | 68.1% | 1150 | 14.2 | 6 |
| Keenan Allen | 147 | 100 | 68.0% | 992 | 9.9 | 8 |
| Allen Robinson | 151 | 102 | 67.5% | 1250 | 12.3 | 6 |
| Greg Ward | 79 | 53 | 67.1% | 419 | 7.9 | 6 |
| CeeDee Lamb | 111 | 74 | 66.7% | 935 | 12.6 | 5 |
| Noah Fant | 93 | 62 | 66.7% | 673 | 10.9 | 3 |
| Danny Amendola | 69 | 46 | 66.7% | 602 | 13.1 | 0 |
| T.J. Hockenson | 101 | 67 | 66.3% | 723 | 10.8 | 6 |
| Jamison Crowder | 89 | 59 | 66.3% | 699 | 11.8 | 6 |
| Kendrick Bourne | 74 | 49 | 66.2% | 667 | 13.6 | 2 |
| Marvin Jones | 115 | 76 | 66.1% | 978 | 12.9 | 9 |
| Russell Gage | 109 | 72 | 66.1% | 786 | 10.9 | 4 |
| Gerald Everett | 62 | 41 | 66.1% | 417 | 10.2 | 1 |
| Mecole Hardman | 62 | 41 | 66.1% | 560 | 13.7 | 4 |
| A.J. Brown | 106 | 70 | 66.0% | 1075 | 15.4 | 11 |
| Mark Andrews | 88 | 58 | 65.9% | 701 | 12.1 | 7 |
| Jimmy Graham | 76 | 50 | 65.8% | 456 | 9.1 | 8 |
| Austin Hooper | 70 | 46 | 65.7% | 435 | 9.5 | 4 |
| Michael Pittman | 61 | 40 | 65.6% | 503 | 12.6 | 1 |
| Logan Thomas | 110 | 72 | 65.5% | 670 | 9.3 | 6 |
| Terry McLaurin | 134 | 87 | 64.9% | 1118 | 12.9 | 4 |
| Tim Patrick | 79 | 51 | 64.6% | 742 | 14.5 | 6 |
| Hunter Henry | 93 | 60 | 64.5% | 613 | 10.2 | 4 |
| Anthony Miller | 76 | 49 | 64.5% | 485 | 9.9 | 2 |
| Tyreek Hill | 135 | 87 | 64.4% | 1276 | 14.7 | 15 |
| D.K. Metcalf | 129 | 83 | 64.3% | 1303 | 15.7 | 10 |
| Mike Evans | 109 | 70 | 64.2% | 1006 | 14.4 | 13 |
| Josh Reynolds | 81 | 52 | 64.2% | 618 | 11.9 | 2 |
| Hayden Hurst | 88 | 56 | 63.6% | 571 | 10.2 | 6 |
| Chris Conley | 63 | 40 | 63.5% | 471 | 11.8 | 2 |
| Jonnu Smith | 65 | 41 | 63.1% | 448 | 10.9 | 8 |
| Calvin Ridley | 143 | 90 | 62.9% | 1374 | 15.3 | 9 |
| Brandon Aiyuk | 96 | 60 | 62.5% | 748 | 12.5 | 5 |
| Keelan Cole | 88 | 55 | 62.5% | 642 | 11.7 | 5 |
| Mike Gesicki | 85 | 53 | 62.4% | 703 | 13.3 | 6 |
| Darnell Mooney | 98 | 61 | 62.2% | 631 | 10.3 | 4 |
| Tee Higgins | 108 | 67 | 62.0% | 908 | 13.6 | 6 |
| Zach Pascal | 71 | 44 | 62.0% | 629 | 14.3 | 5 |
| Jared Cook | 60 | 37 | 61.7% | 504 | 13.6 | 7 |
| Eric Ebron | 91 | 56 | 61.5% | 558 | 10.0 | 5 |
| DeVante Parker | 103 | 63 | 61.2% | 793 | 12.6 | 4 |
| Diontae Johnson | 144 | 88 | 61.1% | 923 | 10.5 | 7 |
| Damiere Byrd | 77 | 47 | 61.0% | 604 | 12.9 | 1 |
| Christian Kirk | 79 | 48 | 60.8% | 621 | 12.9 | 6 |
| T.Y. Hilton | 93 | 56 | 60.2% | 762 | 13.6 | 5 |
| Tyler Eifert | 60 | 36 | 60.0% | 349 | 9.7 | 2 |
| Nelson Agholor | 82 | 48 | 58.5% | 896 | 18.7 | 8 |
| Rob Gronkowski | 77 | 45 | 58.4% | 623 | 13.8 | 7 |
| Marquise Brown | 100 | 58 | 58.0% | 769 | 13.3 | 8 |
| Evan Engram | 109 | 63 | 57.8% | 654 | 10.4 | 1 |
| DJ Chark | 93 | 53 | 57.0% | 706 | 13.3 | 5 |
| Chase Claypool | 109 | 62 | 56.9% | 873 | 14.1 | 9 |
| Travis Fulgham | 67 | 38 | 56.7% | 539 | 14.2 | 4 |
| Mike Williams | 85 | 48 | 56.5% | 756 | 15.8 | 5 |
| Gabriel Davis | 62 | 35 | 56.5% | 599 | 17.1 | 7 |
| Michael Gallup | 105 | 59 | 56.2% | 843 | 14.3 | 5 |
| D.J. Moore | 118 | 66 | 55.9% | 1193 | 18.1 | 4 |
| Marquez Valdes-Scantling | 63 | 33 | 52.4% | 690 | 20.9 | 6 |
| Darius Slayton | 96 | 50 | 52.1% | 751 | 15.0 | 3 |
| Breshad Perriman | 60 | 30 | 50.0% | 505 | 16.8 | 3 |
| Zach Ertz | 72 | 36 | 50.0% | 335 | 9.3 | 1 |
| Jerry Jeudy | 113 | 52 | 46.0% | 856 | 16.5 | 3 |
| A.J. Green | 104 | 47 | 45.2% | 523 | 11.1 | 2 |
Some of the other poor performers in this area also had poor quarterbacking working against them, but they were also running deeper routes (e.g., Darius Slayton and Breshad Perriman). Ertz was under 10 yards per catch and still only caught half the passes thrown his way, while teammate Goedert, working with the same quarterbacks, caught over 70 percent. It becomes difficult to make too many excuses for Ertz. Eventually Philadelphia might have to admit defeat here.
--Andy Richardson