Philadelphia Eagles: Burnt bridges could be tanking Zach Ertz’ trade value

Following the departure of Carson Wentz, it appears former superstar tight end Zach Ertz is up next on the trading block. The Philadelphia Eagles are expected to go through a bit of a “talent purge” this offseason, and Ertz has not been particularly quiet in regards to his frustrations with the team’s front office – notably Howie Roseman.

The two sides got into a heavily publicized argument prior to the 2020 regular season kicking off over a potential Ertz contract extension, a debate that ended without the tight end receiving a new payday. The frustrations from this disagreement seemingly spilled over into Ertz’ on-field performance, as he finished with the worst statistical performance of his seven year professional career (36 catches, 335 yards, just one touchdown).

While normally, someone of Ertz’ stature and pedigree would demand quite the haul on the open market, some burnt bridges that occurred between Zach and the Eagles could leave Howie Roseman and company grasping at straws when it comes to maxing out trade value.

In fact, there’s no guarantee that the Eagles will even be able to trade the disgruntled tight end at all this offseason. If that ends up being the case, Ertz reportedly expects to be flat out released.

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According to Ed Kracz over at Sports Illustrated, the Philadelphia Eagles have had talks with at least two teams in regards to a potential Ertz trade this offseason (Seahawks, Colts), and both the Ravens and Packers were reportedly interested at last year’s trade deadline. This is good news, as multiple teams calling should give Philadelphia some sense of leverage over the whole ordeal.

However, like we just saw with Wentz, Ertz has a sense of power over where he ends up next. If he’s expressing a firm desire to play with one team over another (possibly wants to reunite with Wentz out in Indianapolis?), then it will be tough for teams to sell themselves on giving up prime draft capital for him.

Seeing as Ertz and Roseman are on fairly bad terms – likely even more so after the way the franchise treated his good friend Wentz over the last couple days – it’s hard for me to imagine a scenario where Ertz would be willing to work with the Eagles over figuring out a good deal for all parties involved. Ertz has no reason to care about what Roseman gets in return via a trade, he can simply wait out the ordeal until he gets released, and then sign with a team of his choosing in free agency.

The Philadelphia Eagles poor treatment of Zach Ertz could come back to bite them.

One of the major “cons” to Roseman (and the rest of the Eagles front office) acting in such a reckless, classless manner the past year-plus is that it burns bridges along the way. The Eagles ultimately got less value than they should have in the Wentz trade because everyone knew Carson wanted out, and a similar situation will likely occur here with Ertz.

Burning bridges is never a good way to operate in professional sports, especially when talking about a guy (Ertz) who helped win your team its first ever Super Bowl.