Zach Ertz: Real Value, Not Name Value
Zach Ertz is back.
And if he can still perform at an NFL level, he’s back at the perfect time.
Dallas Goedert is on injured reserve for the foreseeable future. Eli Stowers has yet to make his NFL debut. Johnny Mundt is on the roster for his excellent blocking, not to catch the ball. Without Ertz, the Eagles have no receiving threat at tight end.
A Dallas Goedert injury isn’t unusual. The star pass-catcher hasn’t played a full season since his rookie campaign in 2018. What is unexpected, however, is that Eli Stowers, the Eagles’ second-round pick from last April’s draft, is not ready to fill in. The 23-year-old rookie picked up a hamstring injury during the preseason, and it doesn’t look like he’s coming back anytime soon.
Zach Ertz is the most necessary 35-year-old tight end free-agent pickup in NFL memory, and he will perform like it.
Can he still do the job?
Eagles fans obviously shouldn’t expect Zach Ertz to pick up right where he left off in 2021 before being traded to the Arizona Cardinals. Still, they can expect the veteran to be impactful in Goedert’s absence. Even after missing the final four games of the season with a torn ACL, Zach Ertz finished second on the Washington Commanders’ stat sheet in both receptions and touchdowns last season. Ertz ranks among the top ten tight ends in NFL history in receiving yards, and he’s likely to breach the top seven even if he has only a small impact in the Eagles’ offense.
Obviously, a torn ACL for a 35-year-old tight end is most likely career-ending. But Zach Ertz is no ordinary 35-year-old tight end. He’s battled an extensive injury history in his thirties, and actually improved his production in the process.
In 2022, while playing for the Arizona Cardinals, Zach Ertz tore his MCL. That could have finished his NFL journey on the spot, but he fought through. Instead of hanging up his cleats and ending his successful career there, Ertz had more to give to the league. He recovered and played in week one of the following season.
During a grueling 2023 season for Arizona, Ertz was released. The Cardinals, in need of a rebuild, featured their young star Trey McBride rather than the veteran Ertz. Still having more to give to the NFL, he signed with the Detroit Lions’ practice squad, hoping to contribute to their Super Bowl run. Detroit was shocked by a 17-point comeback by the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, and Zach Ertz was bounced from the playoffs without even touching the field.
Ertz was never going to go out like that. He signed with the Commanders that offseason. Washington desperately needed receiving help for their second-overall-pick quarterback, Jayden Daniels. Luckily for them, Zach Ertz was ready for more NFL action.
The Commanders set the NFL on fire. Jayden Daniels won Offensive Rookie of the Year. The team upset No. 1 seed Detroit on the road. They played their way to the NFC Championship in the first year of a rebuild. Zach Ertz was right at the center of their offense. He played all seventeen games. He caught sixty-six passes. He scored seven touchdowns. It wasn’t a comeback year; Ertz showed that he never lost it.
An NFL fan having any doubt about Zach Ertz’s ability to get the job done just shows that they aren’t aware just how incredible Ertz’s journey has been. He’s battled through so much adversity to get to this point in his career; he won’t fumble his golden opportunity back home in Philadelphia.
A Look at Other NFL Veteran Fill-In Tight Ends
The tight end position doesn’t change much, at least when it comes to the big names. Sure, Trey McBride, Brock Bowers, and Sam LaPorta have entered the scene, but Travis Kelce, George Kittle, and Mark Andrews are still doing the job.
The NFL has seen plenty of recent examples where a veteran tight end has filled in for a team in need and subsequently added another level to its offense:
Rob Gronkowski
Gronk wasn’t nearly as old as Zach Ertz is now when he came out of retirement for Tampa Bay, but he had a similar injury history, if not longer.
Nevertheless, Gronkowski was vital in Tampa’s playoff runs in 2020 and 2021 before calling it quits a second time.
Jimmy Graham
In his final NFL season, Jimmy Graham was even older than Zach Ertz is now, and Graham still became the most reliable red zone option for the New Orleans Saints. While Graham had the better counting stats of the two, his receiving talent is very comparable to Ertz.
At the very least, Ertz can be an excellent red-zone weapon for the Eagles, like Graham was for the Saints in his final year.
Darren Waller
Waller is the perfect example: similar receiving talent, similar age, and similar situation to Ertz. In Waller’s twelve games since returning from retirement, he’s scored eight touchdowns. Darren Waller retired in the process; Zach Ertz didn’t.
Ertz is the receiver with the more illustrious career who has consistently found his way onto NFL rosters. If Waller can do it, why can’t Ertz?
Tight end can be a plug-and-play position in the NFL, especially when the player who’s being plugged in has the skills to thrive.
And there was never any doubt that Zach Ertz has the skills to thrive.
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