Howie Roseman: Zach Ertz Trade Has to Make Sense for Eagles
PHILADELPHIA - The potential destinations for Zach Ertz seem to be dwindling and Eagles general manager Howie Roseman insists that Philadelphia will not be dealing the veteran tight end unless it makes sense.
According to league sources, it's made some sense for the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills, who floated offers for Ertz, a three-time Pro Bowl tight end coming off his worst season as a professional.
The offers haven't been enticing enough for Philadelphia, however.
“Zach’s been a huge part of the success we’ve had since we drafted him. He is a heck of a player, he is a heck of a person and we value him,” Roseman said on Thursday afternoon in a videoconference call. “And for us to trade any player, it’s gotta make sense for both sides. It’s gotta make sense for the Philadelphia Eagles too."
Shortly after Roseman and new head coach Nick Sirianni finished their start-of-the-new-league-year briefing the Chargers signed veteran tight end Jared Cook to a one-year deal that could be worth as much as $6 million.
Set to turn 34 in April, Cook isn't Ertz, 30, but he's a good receiving tight end who caught 80 passes over his last two seasons with New Orleans and prior to that had two big seasons in Oakland. The budget to replace Hunter Henry, who signed a big-money deal in New England, is probably not going to include both Ertz and Cook for the Chargers.
Other news on the TE front broke up the Jersey Turnpike when the New York Giants agreed to a two-year deal worth up to $14M with former Minnesota TE Kyle Rudolph.
The Eagles weren't about to trade Ertz to a division rival of course but the fact that the market is moving is not lost on Ertz and his agent Steve Caric.
The frontrunners are now believed to be the Bills, Indianapolis, which just introduced Ertz's friend Carson Wentz on Thursday, and perhaps Baltimore, which had an interest in Ertz at least season's trading deadline before an ankle injury and a trip to short-term injured reserve derailed any potential move at that point.
“This is a guy that we didn’t want to trade last year because we wanted him to finish his career as an Eagle,” Roseman said. “When we looked at the history of tight ends in the league, you’re talking about a 30-year-old guy, you’re not talking about a guy who’s in his mid-30s. And his skill set, we felt like he had tremendous production going forward left in him. That’s what we still feel like with Zach."
Ertz tied his career-low of 36 receptions during his rookie season and had career-worsts in receiving yards (335) and touchdowns (1) in 2020. In the five prior seasons, he never dipped below 74 receptions and set an NFL record for tight ends with 116 receptions in 2018.
“There’s nobody who works harder, he’s an incredible route runner, he has incredible hands, he’ll do anything to help the team," said Roseman. "Our goal was to really try to extend him. That didn’t work out in August we hadn’t really thought about trading him. We were trying to do whatever we could to try to win and we knew he was a big part of that.”
Ertz is set to enter the final year of his contract and earn $8.25 million in 2021 with a cap hit of $12.47 million.
“Because none of us had the year that we wanted last year but that doesn’t define who we are, who we are in our jobs," insisted Roseman. "We know who [Ertz] is, we know who he is both on and off the field and we value that."
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Thursday on The Middle with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, former Eagles OT Barrett Brooks streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and SportsMap Radio. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
