Serious question: why can't we just release Zach Ertz?

He's been a loyal player for this franchise for a number of years.  He's one of the franchise great TEs.   The combination of big salary & decreased production in 2020 makes it unlikely that we are going to get any serious value in return.   It's almost embarrassing to trade him for a conditional 5th.

Let's do him a favor and release him, that way he can pick the situation that's best for him.  

1 hour ago, EricAllenPick6 said:

Serious question: why can't we just release Zach Ertz?

He's been a loyal player for this franchise for a number of years.  He's one of the franchise great TEs.   The combination of big salary & decreased production in 2020 makes it unlikely that we are going to get any serious value in return.   It's almost embarrassing to trade him for a conditional 5th.

Let's do him a favor and release him, that way he can pick the situation that's best for him.  

I think Hurts is going to need every possible weapon he can get

3 hours ago, EricAllenPick6 said:

Serious question: why can't we just release Zach Ertz?

He's been a loyal player for this franchise for a number of years.  He's one of the franchise great TEs.   The combination of big salary & decreased production in 2020 makes it unlikely that we are going to get any serious value in return.   It's almost embarrassing to trade him for a conditional 5th.

Let's do him a favor and release him, that way he can pick the situation that's best for him.  

Because if we do it's going to Hurts

One potential option is to keep him, start him and get his value up with good production then try to sucker a team into a trade before the deadline.  A team that either has injuries or just wants a weapon to help them heading into the playoffs, similar to when Howie traded for Golden Tate.

53 minutes ago, NOTW said:

One potential option is to keep him, start him and get his value up with good production then try to sucker a team into a trade before the deadline.  A team that either has injuries or just wants a weapon to help them heading into the playoffs, similar to when Howie traded for Golden Tate.

What are the chances he sits out without an extension? Not sure he and Howie are on good terms.

1 hour ago, Perforator said:

Because if we do it's going to Hurts

Hahahaha, ouch, that hurts pretty bad!

51 minutes ago, NOTW said:

One potential option is to keep him, start him and get his value up with good production then try to sucker a team into a trade before the deadline.  

I think we'd all prefer to see him here, but his cap # is a problem.  $8.5m this season is pretty big given that he wasn't very good last year.

Off-topic: I'm jealous that you live in Nashville.  That's a cool town.  So much live music down there, it's crazy.  They even had live music in the airport when I went to visit.  

1 hour ago, NOTW said:

One potential option is to keep him, start him and get his value up with good production then try to sucker a team into a trade before the deadline.  A team that either has injuries or just wants a weapon to help them heading into the playoffs, similar to when Howie traded for Golden Tate.

Receivers and tight ends don't make good mid seasons trade options though. It takes to long to pick up other teams systems and develop chemistry with the QB and what not. 

49 minutes ago, EaglesfanfromND said:

What are the chances he sits out without an extension? Not sure he and Howie are on good terms.

He said he is fine with Howie and wanted to end his career here. I don't think this situation is as bad as people want to make it. Ertz agent saying he is getting antsy can mean lots of things doesn't mean he is itching to get out.  could mean he just wants to know if he is staying or going so he can prepare for next season with his new or existing teammates. 

4 hours ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

He said he is fine with Howie and wanted to end his career here. I don't think this situation is as bad as people want to make it. Ertz agent saying he is getting antsy can mean lots of things doesn't mean he is itching to get out.  could mean he just wants to know if he is staying or going so he can prepare for next season with his new or existing teammates. 

That’s the problem - he should have been dealt for a high pick or two last offseason but Howie continues to F up. 

17 hours ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

Receivers and tight ends don't make good mid seasons trade options though. It takes to long to pick up other teams systems and develop chemistry with the QB and what not. 

You should tell Howie that

 

On 3/24/2021 at 11:11 AM, jsdarkstar said:

If Ertz is not traded before the Drat, does that rule out drafting TE, Pitts? 

The problem with Pitts is you'd have to use your #1 to get him, if the team didn't have so many other needs then we could afford a luxury pick at TE.

I'd much rather go after someone like Tre McKitty in round 5 if he's available.

I now think keep Ertz. Gives Hurts another weapon. Looks like we are not going to get more than a 5th for him this year and we might even get a comp pickzzz when he leaves next year.

I could see us potentially getting a 3rd or 4th mid season as well. Would have done last year if he wasn't hurt.

1 hour ago, ManchesterEagle said:

I now think keep Ertz. Gives Hurts another weapon. Looks like we are not going to get more than a 5th for him this year and we might even get a comp pickzzz when he leaves next year.

I could see us potentially getting a 3rd or 4th mid season as well. Would have done last year if he wasn't hurt.

I agree, I've been saying all along to fix the relationship with Ertz and keep him. Sirianni and the Colts offense utilize multiple tight ends, when the trade talk started I was surprised Sirianni wanted to let him go. Now with Pitts probably out of reach I'd like to see Zach stay.

14 hours ago, ManchesterEagle said:

I now think keep Ertz. Gives Hurts another weapon. Looks like we are not going to get more than a 5th for him this year and we might even get a comp pickzzz when he leaves next year.

I could see us potentially getting a 3rd or 4th mid season as well. Would have done last year if he wasn't hurt.

I agree.......and Ertz could play his way into a nice free agent payday after this season.  He's got all the incentive to show he's not on the decline, he just had a bad year in which he was injured.  

I"m actually surprised that no team would give up a 3rd or a 4th for him......maybe his contract expectations for after this year scared them off.

But a healthy Ertz and Goeddert can still be very productive.

I don't see how we are doing a disservice to Ertz waiting for a good enough offer. It's not like the eagles say: You have to stay no matter what you want, even allowed him to find a good trade himself. But hey, this is not just the Eagles having to thank Ertz and in that doing whatever the guy wants. Ertz has a lot to thank the Eagles for too. You'd think he would be the first to understand that he should at least be worth a fourth round pick to someone.

On 3/25/2021 at 2:41 PM, EricAllenPick6 said:

Hahahaha, ouch, that hurts pretty bad!

I think we'd all prefer to see him here, but his cap # is a problem.  $8.5m this season is pretty big given that he wasn't very good last year.

Off-topic: I'm jealous that you live in Nashville.  That's a cool town.  So much live music down there, it's crazy.  They even had live music in the airport when I went to visit.  

The savings of cutting or trading him is 4.75m.  His salary is 8.5m but the cap hit isn’t awful and they don’t need the space because of all the other moves they made. 

At this point just keep him and try to showcase his trade value by featuring a lot of 2 TE sets with him and Goedert.

Quite frankly, those two are probably going to be our leading receivers anyway after our trade down to 12. Reagor hopefully takes a big step forward and maybe the new coaching staff can get the most of our other young guys.

I have an eerie feeling that the Giants will scoop up whichever Alabama WR slides to 11, even though they just signed Kenny Golladay, to spite us, not unlike the Cowboys taking Lamb last year.

On 3/25/2021 at 10:24 AM, EricAllenPick6 said:

Serious question: why can't we just release Zach Ertz?

He's been a loyal player for this franchise for a number of years.  He's one of the franchise great TEs.   The combination of big salary & decreased production in 2020 makes it unlikely that we are going to get any serious value in return.   It's almost embarrassing to trade him for a conditional 5th.

Let's do him a favor and release him, that way he can pick the situation that's best for him.  

Ain't no favors in business especially the NFL.

I don't think they'll keep him. He'll be released if they can't trade him. They need his $4.9M cap relief by trading or releasing. Right now they only have $695k of cap space. They'll get another $4M on 6/1 for Jeffrey and Jackson. That's still not enough to sign this draft class.

1 minute ago, John Blutarski said:

I don't think they'll keep him. He'll be released if they can't trade him. They need his $4.9M cap relief by trading or releasing. Right now they only have $695k of cap space. They'll get another $4M on 6/1 for Jeffrey and Jackson. That's still not enough to sign this draft class.

Exactly,  teams know we can't afford to keep him and last year he wasn't playing at a level you'd need to jump a queue for.

The team needs to save every cap dollar they can, because at the moment the Ertz, Jackson and Jeffery cap savings may get our draft class signed up (but only just), they'll need to get Barnett's extension done or cut him because at the moment I'm not sure we could put someone on IR next year and even sign a vet minimum replacement.

1 minute ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

Exactly,  teams know we can't afford to keep him and last year he wasn't playing at a level you'd need to jump a queue for.

The team needs to save every cap dollar they can, because at the moment the Ertz, Jackson and Jeffery cap savings may get our draft class signed up (but only just), they'll need to get Barnett's extension done or cut him because at the moment I'm not sure we could put someone on IR next year and even sign a vet minimum replacement.

Yup, good point about IR too.

On 3/24/2021 at 4:09 PM, NOTW said:

TE Factory! 

All joking aside, we’ve been pretty fortunate this position hasn’t been a weak spot in a very long time.

On 3/25/2021 at 2:41 PM, EaglesfanfromND said:

What are the chances he sits out without an extension? Not sure he and Howie are on good terms.

I doubt Ertz would do that. With all the Covid restrictions I think it would be difficult to tell if anyone held out. I’m sure he’d be willing to skip OTAs and he probably would skip training camp otherwise. As far as the season goes he has to play it out. He’s coming off a subpar season, and injury, and he’s 30. He can’t afford to wait it out for a year, cause he’s not getting the money he would be looking for without playing well. The Eagles are probably going to get a very determined Ertz. 

2 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

I doubt Ertz would do that. With all the Covid restrictions I think it would be difficult to tell if anyone held out. I’m sure he’d be willing to skip OTAs and he probably would skip training camp otherwise. As far as the season goes he has to play it out. He’s coming off a subpar season, and injury, and he’s 30. He can’t afford to wait it out for a year, cause he’s not getting the money he would be looking for without playing well. The Eagles are probably going to get a very determined Ertz. 

He's over 30 and getting 8 mil a year.  Could be his last big paycheck.  No way he misses any game checks.  I don't think we'll be paying them.  Hopefully we get a 5 for him by day 3.  I don't see him being on the roster after that day

32 minutes ago, weko said:

He's over 30 and getting 8 mil a year.  Could be his last big paycheck.  No way he misses any game checks.  I don't think we'll be paying them.  Hopefully we get a 5 for him by day 3.  I don't see him being on the roster after that day

The Eagles could probably get a comp 4 if they just let him play out the season. I don’t think any team can get him without starting with a 4.