Despite months and months of waiting for a seemingly inevitable trade including the Eagles best tight end in franchise history thanks to a contract dispute, Jalen Hurts will enjoy the pleasant surprise of throwing to Zach Ertz after news broke of his likely return on Thursday, July 22.
Latest on #Eagles Zach Ertz. I know hear there is a great chance Ertz will be on team at start of season. Been told Zach will be there at start of training camp Tuesday. Zach has been working out in team facility for close to last 2 weeks with teammates. He’s over the issues.
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) July 21, 2021
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The rumours of Ertz’s departure were not unreasonable, as the 30 year old tight end has seen a drop in production but demanded a position-leading contract an offseason before due.
Ertz was seemingly on the trade block all offseason, with more and more significant dates and events passing but Ertz remaining in his midnight green colors. Ertz spent last year being the unfortunate receiver of balls thrown by Carson Wentz, formerly the Eagles biggest quarterback draft pick disappointment and currently the starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts.
Also, the Eagles were not fearful of life without Ertz thanks to a promising young tight end in Dallas Goedert, a former second round pick who has shown he can be one of the best players at his position in the league.
After proving himself to be a reliable receiving option (while maintaining his blocking talents), Goedert seemed to be the oldest piece of a young offensive skill position core. A week ago, he was expected to take over the reigns as the next multi-year starting tight end.
The return of Ertz means another weapon for Eagles new head coach Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts to utilize, but is quite costly at over $8 million against the cap this season. On the other hand, Goedert has been preparing for a heavy workload this season and will likely compete strongly for the label of starter in one of the league’s best tight end duos.
With a new head coach, starting quarterback, and many more things different from last year, the continuity at the tight end position is one of the Eagles best advantages entering next season.
We’ll see how the tight ends compete in the beginning of the season, but whether it be due to injury or mishaps it’s easy to predict one of the two starting level talents will miss significant time and the other could be forced to step in without losing a beat.
The post The Eagles’ Newest Position Battle appeared first on Philadelphia Sports Nation.
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