Are the Philadelphia Eagles trying to keep Zach Ertz in town?

Following the conclusion of the Philadelphia Eagles Week 17 loss to the Washington Football Team, Zach Ertz hung around the sidelines for a good few hours. Joined by Carson Wentz, Jason Kelce, and the team’s head of security, it very much looked like a group of close friends having one final goodbye.

Ertz even gave a pretty heartfelt goodbye/thank you to the team’s fanbase during his end of year press conference, a sign that his tenure in Philadelphia was set to expire this offseason.

https://twitter.com/NBCSPhilly/status/1346144118255149057?s=20

A few weeks into the new league year and things have obviously shuffled around quite a great deal when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles as an organization. Carson Wentz was in fact traded, Doug Pederson was fired, Jim Schwartz stepped away from the game, and a whole slew of Indianapolis assistants came in to take over the team’s coaching staff.

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However, amidst all the change and chaos that has taken place down at the NovaCare Complex, Zach Ertz’ borderline guaranteed departure from the team has yet to take place. His salary was carried into the new league year by Howie Roseman and the Eagles, and with the NFL Draft just a few weeks away, the odds of any sort of trade being worked out involving immediate draft compensation are narrowing.

Right when the league’s free agency period kicked off, there were even some reports that surfaced saying Ertz’ full-on release from the Eagles was imminent. With Roseman unable to secure himself any sort of high-tier draft compensation for Ertz’ services on the open market, many speculated that the Eagles would “do Ertz a solid” and let him test free agency himself, able to sign with the team of his choosing.

Apparently Ertz and his camp thought this would be the case as well, as NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported a few weeks back that Ertz was growing “impatient” with the team’s lack of a decision regarding his future.

As much as Ertz may love the city of Philadelphia and the organization that drafted him, it’s pretty clear that the former Pro Bowler wants a fresh start moving forward. Howie Roseman failed to meet his contract demands during last year’s offseason, and his strong relationship with Wentz was well-documented.

Could the Philadelphia Eagles end up keeping Zach Ertz?

With all of that said, we’re less than four weeks away from the NFL Draft, and the Eagles don’t seem any closer to finding a trade partner for Ertz than they did a month ago. As much as Ertz may want out of Philly as soon as possible, it would make far more sense for the team to retain their star tight end through the start of the regular season, in hopes that his trade value picks back up later in the year.

Worst case scenario is that Ertz finishes out the final year of his contract with the Eagles, leaves the following offseason in free agency, and nets Howie Roseman a compensatory pick (a pick that will likely be equal to what he would net via a trade right now).

It wouldn’t be that hard of a sell from the Eagles front office either. Ertz is obviously a franchise legend, and the idea of him “returning home” to help build up the culture around Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni is very much a feel-good concept.

From a fan perspective, the idea of “forcing” Ertz to stay in Philly during a rebuilding year seems like a bit of a scummy move. From a business standpoint, Howie Roseman and the rest of the front office can milk out much more value by retaining the tight end for at least another couple months.

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A trade could still happen sometime leading up to the draft, or even during the draft itself, but I wouldn’t rule out the idea of Ertz being the team’s starting TE come Week 1.

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