Elite or not, Ertz’s Eagles future uncertain beyond 2021
If you trust the Madden NFL 21 and Pro Football Focus ratings, Eagles veteran 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.
If you look at the production and buy into the new big-bucks contracts earned by tight ends George Kittle and Travis Kelce, Ertz is underpaid.
Ertz also is the Eagles’ most tradeable commodity right now because Carson Wentz, Fletcher Cox and Darius Slay aren’t going anywhere. And make no mistake, subtracting Ertz and the big salary cap number it would cost to keep him would be a gutpunch.
Kittle is the standard now 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, accord
ing to those PFF ratings.
Ertz, who turns 30 in November, is the third oldest in the group. Gronk is 31 (and once-retired), while Kelce turns 31 in October. Ertz also is expendable in that the Eagles have Goedert and a growing group of young talents who also will need the football.
The Eagles picked up Ertz’s option in March. They 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 the 2019 season that reports suggest would have averaged more than the $10.6 million franchise tag and provided the Eagles with cap flexibility. He wasn’t ready to take the hometown discount.
Though Ertz maintained last week that he wants to play for the Eagles for his entire career, just the fact that he turned the club down was momentous. It also illustrated how confident Ertz in his skills. Players who know they can play aren’t worried about contracts. Nor are they worried about losing jobs or status. They’re guys who instinctively help teammates after their own jobs.
Nothing is forever in the NFL, not even for talented tight ends such as Gronkowski, who played nine seasons with the New England Patriots before joining Tom Brady with the Buccaneers after a one-year sabbatical.
Ertz’s consistency, on the other hand, sure seems like an exception. He’s led the Eagles in receptions four straight seasons.
“I don’t try to make it about myself, but I do consider myself in that upper echelon of guys, in that same tier with those guys,” Ertz said of the tight end rankings. “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, making 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 wanted Ertz to stick around. They don’t waste time offering extensions to players who can’t help them win. Whether they can afford to pay him 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 his career. But he is a viable replacement if the Birds find themselves up against the salary cap next year, a distinct possibility considering how Wentz’s contract swells.
It’s also not too early to consider what’s available in the upcoming draft. Among other first-round candidates in 2021 is Pat Freiermuth of Penn State, the 6-5, 256-pound bruiser known as Baby Gronk in college football. Freiermuth is a beast.
The 2021 tight end class is much more talented than 2020. 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. The speculation already has begun.
Ertz and his wife, Julie, 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.
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 and DeSean Jackson is healthy after missing all but three games of the 2019 campaign with a groin injury. Running back Boston Scott and slot receiver Greg Ward have evolved into contributors.
It’s possible that Ertz won’t lead the Eagles in receptions in 2020. It’s certain that Ertz will get paid, though. If not the Eagles, by another team. Ertz is a receiver the opponent has to game-plan for.