Zach Ertz reflects on difficult final year with Eagles originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The end was difficult for Zach Ertz.
Even though he was a Super Bowl hero and one of the top-10 tight ends in NFL history, he knew the Eagles weren’t going to re-sign him. Dallas Goedert was going to get the big contract and Ertz was going to wind up somewhere else. But he also knew the Eagles weren’t going to trade him until the return was fair.
So he was stuck here.
Ertz, a slam-dunk future Eagles Hall of Famer, went into 2021 training camp at the NovaCare Complex in an incredibly awkward position. He was essentially a lame-duck tight end just waiting to be traded.
“The last 18 months in Philly weren’t the easiest,” Ertz said Monday. “Obviously, there was a lot going on behind the scenes, a lot of people don’t know about it. But at the same time, I loved all my time in Philadelphia.
“I’ll never have a bad memory about my time there, and a lot of it is down to guys like Kelce, Lane, B.G., Fletch, the guys I spent eight, nine years with, we had some good years and we had some great years, in particular the one (in 2017).”
Ertz didn’t want to expound on why his last year and a half was so difficult, but it’s no secret he was insulted by the Eagles’ last contract offer before talks broke down in the spring of 2020 – below $11 million per year when he was looking for fair market value, somewhere in the $14 to $15 million per year range.
“I’ve said all along I want to be here for the long run,” he said at the time. “I don’t know for sure if that feeling is mutual.”
But despite all of that, Ertz was still here when last year began, and he said Monday one of the things that made a difficult situation bearable was the way Nick Sirianni – then an unproven rookie head coach – handled it.
“I really enjoyed Nick,” Ertz said from the Cards’ practice facility in Tempe, Ariz. “Obviously, he and I were put in a tough spot, and I thought we really made the most out of it.
“I got to know him extremely well, I think he went out of his way to make me comfortable going through everything I was going through that summer.
“The thing that I really liked about Nick was how detail-oriented he was. We used to watch film of practice, a couple plays every day, and if you had a bad rep your number would be on the screen, and I absolutely hated when I saw 86 on the screen, and it motivated me every time went on the practice field to make sure my negative wasn’t in a negative light.
“So there were just little things like that. I felt like he does a really good job relating to guys, connecting with guys (and) I have a lot of respect for coach Sirianni.”
Despite his relationship with the front office deteriorating, Ertz was a pro until his final day as an Eagle.
He caught 18 passes for 189 yards and two TDs in six games with the Eagles last year before he was traded in mid-October to the Cards for Tay Gowan – who’s now on the Vikings’ practice squad – and a 5th-round pick that the Eagles eventually traded to the Jaguars for two 6th-round picks, one of which they traded and one of which they used to draft tight end Grant Calcaterra.
Ertz finished his Eagles career with 579 receptions, just 10 fewer than the franchise record of 589 set by Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael from 1971 through 1983.
Now in his first full year in Arizona, Ertz is off to a quick start with 22 catches – 3rd-most among all NFL tight ends so far this year. He’ll go up against his former team for the first time Sunday when the 4-0 Eagles face the 2-2 Cards at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Ertz still has strong connections to Philadelphia. His mom still lives here, his brother goes to Temple and his wife attends Drexel, and Ertz and wife Julie continue to work toward the opening early next year of the House of Hope, a renovated house in Hunting Park that will become a safe haven for area youths and a center for education, arts, sports and mentorship.
“We’re really excited about what we’re doing with the House of Hope,” Ertz said. “This is something that’s been on our hearts for years, trying to make a lasting impact in the community. …
"We want this to be a great space that kids can go after school to get tutoring, there’s going to be a community kitchen in there as well, financial literacy courses are going to be taught – we just wanted it to be a place where kids can look forward to going each and every day.”
Ertz now has 657 career receptions, 9th-most in history by a tight end. With six more, he’ll pass Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome and move into 8th place.
If he continues at this rate, he has a very good chance to join Hall of Famers Tony Gonzalez and Shannon Sharpe and future Hall of Famers Jason Witten and Antonio Gates in the 800-catch club. Travis Kelce is on his way there as well.
Although Ertz is an Arizona Cardinal now, he said all his memories of Philadelphia are positive ones.
“I was there for 8 ½ years, nine years essentially, and I really felt like we grew up there,” he said.
“Julie and I, we came there as 22-year-old kids and gave everything we had to the city and we felt that love and passion reciprocated each and every day and we just felt such a connection to the fans and the community, you can’t really put it into words what that city means to us today.
“It will always have a special place in our hearts, even though we’re in Arizona now.”
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