Birds may not be able to afford Ertz in long term
If you trust the Madden NFL 21 and Pro Football Focus ratings and you buy into the big-bucks contracts given recently to George Kittle and Travis Kelce, Zach Ertz has fallen out of the elite category at tight end.
Ertz isn’t even the best tight end on the Eagles if you subscribe to the PFF evaluations. They’ve graded Dallas Goedert higher. Ertz is sixth on the PFF list, one spot behind Goedert.
Kittle is the standard at tight end, the 26-year-old veteran getting it done with his receiving and blocking skills. The San Francisco 49ers handed him a five-year $75 million extension, about half of it guaranteed. Even PFF got that one right.
Kelce, the younger brother of Eagles center Jason Kelce, agreed to a four-year, $57 million extension that’s incredibly cap friendly. He’s the consensus No. 2 tight end, with Rob Gronkowski (Tampa Bay), Darren Waller (Las Vegas Raiders), Mark Andrews (Baltimore Ravens) and Ertz trailing.
Ertz, who turns 30 in November, is the third-oldest in the group. Gronk is 31 while Kelce turns 31 in October.
The Eagles picked up Ertz’s option and owe him $8 million this season and $8.5 million in 2021. The 2013 second-round pick out of Stanford turned down an extension after this past season that reports suggest would have averaged more than $10 million and provided the Eagles with cap flexibility. He wasn’t ready to take the hometown discount.
Instead Ertz decided to make it interesting and bet on himself. Though he maintained recently he wants to play for one team his entire career, there was a Freudian slip when he said “like Jason Witten.”
Ertz corrected himself, realizing that the 38-yearold Witten, his idol at the tight end position, is with the Raiders after 16 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.
Nothing is forever even for talented tight ends such as Gronkowski, who played nine seasons with the New England Patriots before joining Tom Brady with the Buccaneers.
“I don’t try to make it about myself but I do consider myself in that upper echelon of guys,” Ertz said of the tight end rankings. “In that same tier with those guys. I don’t mean any disrespect. But I think the guys in this building feel the same way about me.
Ertz set the single-season NFL record for tight ends with 116 receptions in 2018, the year the Eagles drafted Goedert.
Ertz caught 88 passes last season, marking the fourth straight year he topped the Birds in receptions.
Ertz also made the Pro Bowl for the third time.
Training on his own in an offseason disrupted by the coronavirus hasn’t been an issue for Ertz. Almost the opposite.
“This is the best I’ve felt going into a season,” Ertz said. “I think this time off really allowed me to focus on my body and becoming a better athlete overall instead of just minute details of running routes.”
The Eagles clearly want Ertz to stick around. They generally don’t waste time offering extensions to players who can’t help them win.
Whether they can afford to pay Ertz as the Niners and Chiefs have done for Kittle and Kelce is another matter. Goedert may not be as talented as Ertz at this stage of their careers. But he is a viable replacement if the Birds find themselves up against the salary cap next year, a distinct possibility considering how the contract of Carson Wentz swells.
Ertz and his wife, Julie Johnston-Ertz, have West Coast roots. They were married in Santa Barbara. There are three or four teams out there who could use an elite tight end.
It’s also not too early to consider what’s available in the upcoming draft. Among other first-round candidates in 2021 Pat Freiermuth of Penn State, the 6-5, 256-pound bruiser known as Baby Gronk in college football. Freiermuth is a beast (https://youtu.be/ G3_8izhgWQQ).
The 2021 tight end class is much more talented than the 2020 class. Obviously, the evaluations of most positions would be impacted without a fall or spring season for NFL prospects.
The Eagles might want to look at what Ertz would bring in a trade, as well, because the price of franchising him for a year or two just skyrocketed.
Face it, the Eagles are going to give running back Miles Sanders more touches running and receiving this season. Rookie first-round pick Jalen Reagor is vying for a job in the wide receiver rotation, DeSean Jackson is healthy after missing all but three games of the 2019 campaign with a groin injury and running back Boston Scott evolved into a third-down threat last season. Greg Ward showed he could play the slot.
It’s possible Ertz doesn’t lead the Eagles in receptions this season.
It’s certain that Ertz will get paid, though. If not the Eagles, by another team. Ertz is the receiver the opponent has to game-plan for.
Buried in the Eagles’ 17-10 loss last season to the Patriots was the job that cornerback Stephon Gilmore did on Ertz in the second half.
Ertz caught nine passes for 94 yards on the day for the Patriots. Goedert got the Eagles’ only touchdown.
With Ertz stifled, Wentz completed just 20 of 40 passes for 214 yards. He also took five sacks.
Brady completed 26 of 47 passes for 216 yards and zero TD’s – and won.
Afterward, Gilmore told New England media how the Patriots won the game. The key was frustrating Ertz.
“He was crying,” Gilmore said to NBC Sports Boston. “He does that on film a lot. If you get into him, if he doesn’t get the ball or he doesn’t get a call, he’ll cry.
“He’s a good tight end. He’s a great player. But when he doesn’t get his way, he’ll complain to the ref. But who doesn’t do that?”
One way or the other, Ertz is going to get his way on his next contract. But what elite tight end doesn’t these days?