Philadelphia Eagles: Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert are Fantasy must-starts

Either Philadelphia Eagles’ TE is a solid start in Fantasy Football this week.

In Week 1 of the 2020 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles started two tight ends, Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert.

Is that a tad unconventional for the modern-day NFL? Yes, by my count less than a third of the teams in the NFL opted to do so over the first 17 games of the season, but the Eagles did it and did so proudly. Why? Because Ertz and Goedert are inarguably two of the team’s top 11 offensive players.

So why, I ask, do fans want to pit the duo against each other in regards to Fantasy Football? Yes, technically the duo are vying for the same targets, at least in a traditional sense, but are they really? Ertz and Goedert played near-identical offensive snaps in Week 1 (58 vs. 54) and received comparable targets over the course of the team’s 68 offensive snaps (seven vs. nine). While it’s conceivable that one would receive a bump in targets if they were the only game in town, it’s rather inconceivable to imagine either receiving 16-plus targets in a single game, let alone play every single offensive snap.

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And fortunately for fans in Philly, and/or owners of either player in Fantasy Football, both should have opportunity after opportunity to feast on the Rams in the team’s home opener.

Facing off against a new-look inside linebacking corps featuring a pair of inexperienced linebackers in 2018 fifth-round pick Micah Kiser and Baltimore transplant Kenny Young, there will be plays to be had across the middle of the field, as neither player is particularly good in coverage.

Despite playing 100 percent of the Rams’ defensive snaps, Kiser hardly turned in an unflappable performance in Week 1, missing seven(!) of his 14 total tackle attempts while allowing three completions on six targets for 31 yards and a touchdown in coverage. Measuring in at 6-foot, 244 pounds with a 4.66 40 yard dash, a 7.05 three-cone drill, and a 35.5 vertical, Kiser’s athleticism is comparable to T.J. Edwards in that he’s not particularly well suited to line up over faster receivers or match up with 6-foot-5 tight ends like Ertz and Goedert in man coverage.

Young, for what it’s worth, held up much better as a tackler against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 but was only targeted one time in coverage, a completion for four yards. Since entering the league, Young has been targeted 28 times in coverage and allowed 20 completions for 167 yards and two touchdowns, which is, spoiler alert, not particularly good.

But wait, I can hear Rams fans now: “Yeah, your linebacking depth is a work in progress but we have some of the best safeties in the league. I’d put John Johnson, Jordan Fuller, Taylor Rapp, and Terrell Burgess against anyone”.

Alright, fair. Yes, the Rams do have one of the best collection of safeties in the NFL, all of whom are on rookie-scale deals no less, but shutting down Ertz and Goedert? Really?

First and foremost, Jordan Fuller is a free safety, and Terrell Burgess, who didn’t play a snap in Week 1, is more of a slot corner/coverage safety hybrid, so if either were to end up on a 260-plus pound tight end it probably doesn’t end well. Taylor Rapp is sort of a hybrid safety/linebacker, the sort of player who would shine so gosh darn brightly in Jim Schwartz‘s scheme in a weakside linebacker role, but he only earned 15 defensive snaps in Week 1 and was largely taken advantage of as a rookie in coverage – allowing a completion percentage of 61 on 62 targets for 373 yards and a touchdown.

Again, I love Rapp as a player, and think he could give Miles Sanders some trouble in man coverage this week, but at 6-foot, 208 pounds, is he really a viable challenger for either player?

No, for my money, the only safety on the Rams’ defensive front who possesses much of a threat is John Johnson, who fills a sort of Malcolm Jenkins-esque role for Los Angeles. While Johnson played all over the Rams’ secondary in Week 1, he was often tasked with facing up against either Blake Jarwin or Dalton Schultz and didn’t allow a single completion on either of his targets. With that being said, Ertz and Goedert are oh so much better than any tight end Dallas has trotted out since pre-retirement Jason Witten, and comparing the two is sort of apples and oranges if you ask me. Plus, Ertz has already scored a touchdown on Johnson as a pro back in 2017, so there’s always that.

Heck, if either player is really going off, it’s not outside of the realm of possibility to imagine Rams’ defensive coordinator Brandon Staley putting his $100 million cornerback, Jalen Ramsey, on either tight end in a last-ditch attempt to stop the bleeding. Ramsey played both cornerback and safety in college and is the biggest defensive back on the team regardless of position name.

But no matter who ends up covering Ertz and Goedert on any given play, or if the Rams opt to instead do coverage-by-committee, it’s clear both players will be in line for 10-plus point performances for the second straight week based on gameplan alone.

Between Sanders’ hamstring, a reshuffled offensive line, and Aaron Donald‘s presence making a deep passing game particularly challenging to execute, getting the ball out quick to Ertz and Goedert could rapidly become Carson Wentz‘s favorite look in the home opener.

Wentz already looks to Ertz more than most on his reads, so why expect anything less when the chips are down?

Next. Avonte Maddox will be put to the test against the LA Rams. dark

For better or worse, for the remainder of the 2020 NFL season, Fantasy Football players are going to be feuding over which of the Philadelphia Eagles’ tight ends is going to ball out in any given game, with one party cursing the other depending on who gets the higher place in Carson Wentz’s red zone reads. While this, unfortunately, is understandable, even expected, it’s also possible that the Eagles might just be one of the rare teams who have two legitimate starting-caliber tight ends who are both must start TE1s even in an eight-team league.

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