So Long, Zach

Posted: October 18th, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

We all knew this was going to happen, we just didn’t know when. On Friday, Zach Ertz was traded to the Arizona Cardinals for a 5th round pick and CB Tay Gowan. That’s the end of an era. Ertz was a terrific player and also a really good presence in the community. I seem to recall he made a couple of important catches in a game in February of 2018.

It was clear from the summer of 2020 that Zach Ertz was going to become an ex-Eagle. He wanted a new deal and the team wasn’t going to give him one. We thought a trade would happen this summer, but nothing came to fruition. Finally an offer came through that made Howie Roseman pull the trigger. Ertz is now an Arizona Cardinal.

Good for him. The Cards are 6-0 and have one of the best offenses in the league. Ertz will give them another weapon as they make a Super Bowl push. Ertz would love to become a Hall of Famer. Adding another Super Bowl to his resume would certainly help. I don’t think he is a HOF player at this point, but we’ll see how he does the next few years.

Ertz had a lot of interesting things to say in his farewell PC. Make sure to check this out if you haven’t already seen it.

Fran Duffy did an excellent piece on Ertz’s career.

I was a big fan of Ertz’s going back to his time at Stanford. I projected him to be the Eagles 2nd round pick in 2013 and they made me look smart by actually taking him. Even better, he panned out as a good player.

Here is my post on Ertz from draft day. It was fun to see Ertz develop over the years. He started off as a terrible blocker and worked hard to become effective. He was painfully bad at running after the catch. Jimmy Bama charted his issues for years. Eventually Ertz became effective at this as well. His specialty was getting open and catching the ball. TEs aren’t supposed to run routes as well as Ertz did.

Ertz will be in the Eagles Ring of Honor in the future.

Now let’s jump back to the present. The timing of the trade is a bit odd. Why now?

There is no simple answer. Howie Roseman talked about wanting to see Dallas Goedert get to be “The Man”. No more splitting reps. The Eagles also want to get Tyree Jackson on the field when he’s healthy (soon?). Jackson showed excellent potential this summer. He needs to get on the field.

Ertz knew the Bucs game would be his last with the Eagles. They took a risk by playing him, but wanted to give him a chance to play in front of Eagles fans one more time. The next two games are on the road. That was a classy move by the Eagles. Being an Eagle meant something to Ertz. It was good for him to get one final chance to play at The Linc.

As for the Eagles, they add another resource for the 2022 Draft. The Cardinals pick will likely be late in the 5th round, but you can still find players in that area. The 6th and 7th rounds are more of the long shots.

Gowan is an interesting player. I had him rated as a 4th round target for the Eagles back in April. Gowan lasted to the 6th round, likely in part due to the fact he opted out of the 2020 season. Gowan is 6-1, 186. He ran a 4.49 at his Pro Day.

Darius Slay and Steve Nelson are older corners. The Eagles need young guys to develop for the future. They drafted Zech McPhearson in the 4th round back in April and now add Gowan to the mix. We don’t know if either will pan out, but the Eagles need young DBs to try to develop so Gowan does make sense.

Are the Eagles a better team? No, of course not. Ertz is a proven player. The draft pick and Gowan are unknown commodities. But Ertz was going to move on at some point so the goal was to get what you could and focus on the future. The X-factor in all of this is Jackson. He’s big and athletic and looked like a good pass-catcher this summer. If he could develop into a good role player, that would give the offense a boost.

*****

The Dolphins lost to the winless Jags on Sunday, and the game was every bit as ugly as you might expect. That loss helps the Eagles, who own the Dolphins 1st round pick.

The only bad news…there aren’t any elite QB prospects this year.

Still, the draft should be a lot of fun this spring.

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One Comment on “So Long, Zach”

  1. 1 The Linc – Remembering the most important TD in Eagles history – Therapy Box said at 9:17 AM on October 18th, 2021:

    […] So Long, Zach – Iggles BlitzAre the Eagles a better team? No, of course not. Ertz is a proven player. The draft pick and Gowan are unknown commodities. But Ertz was going to move on at some point so the goal was to get what you could and focus on the future. The X-factor in all of this is Tyree Jackson. He’s big and athletic and looked like a good pass-catcher this summer. If he could develop into a good role player, that would give the offense a boost. […]