Zach Ertz Shares Update on Recovery From ACL Injury

It was more than just an ACL injury for Arizona Cardinals TE Zach Ertz.

The 2023 Arizona Cardinals will begin training camp looking quite different than this time last season. 

Names such as Rodney Hudson, J.J. Watt and DeAndre Hopkins are no longer in the fold while Kyler Murray recovers from a torn ACL with his timetable unknown. 

Yet there's been little discourse on the rehab of Zach Ertz, who revealed to The Arizona Republic in a new interview that he tore both his ACL (partial) and MCL (full) back in November against the Los Angeles Rams. 

Ertz has quietly worked his way back away from the spotlight - back in April, he set the following goal for a return:

“Yeah, Week 1 is obviously the goal,” Ertz said. “That’s about 10 months almost post-injury. Unfortunately, rehabs aren’t linear progressions, so you can’t make bold statements like, ‘Hey, I’m going to be 100 percent, I’m going to be my old self Week 1.’ But I’m doing everything I can to put the best version of myself on the field each and every day and hopefully, that ends up with me being ready to go Week 1.

“I mean, in order to play Week 1, I need to practice. I’m not a guy that does one week or two weeks of practice and feel like I’m ready for Week 1. I love the practicing part of the game and for me, it’s all part of the process and the journey and so my goal is to definitely practice during training camp.”

The timeline still remains unclear for a return - we'll find out more as the Cardinals begin training camp this week. 

In the interview with Bob McManaman, Ertz dove into how seeing J.J. Watt rehab from a massive shoulder injury following the 2021 season inspired him to attack his own return the same.

“I view my injury the same. I’m doing everything I can to put myself in a position to get back to myself as soon as possible and be better than the player I was last year before I got hurt," said Ertz. 

"That’s the goal every day. Obviously, when you rehab, you’re able to focus more on things and give more attention to things you’re not going to give to if you’re 100 percent. I’m really progressing well, everyone’s happy and I’m excited.”

For Ertz, he says it's the toughest injury he's had to endure in his tenured time in the league. 

“It’s been the toughest injury I’ve ever dealt with,” Ertz said. “There’s a lot of alone time, a lot of time where things just progress very slowly. But I’ve had a really good support system around me, my wife has been incredible, and obviously having a son has been game-changing for me. 

"Every time I come home, he doesn’t really care about the knee injury. He just wants dad to be a good dad and so for me, it’s been a blessing obviously for many reasons to have him here.”

With Trey McBride ready to attack the second year of his career, the Cardinals won't feel too rushed for Ertz to get back into the mix. Ertz has two years left on his deal, though Arizona does have an out in his contract after 2023. 

That's far along down the road, however. The Cardinals simply need every piece of veteran presence possible as their rebuild begins, and Ertz can provide that if nothing else. 

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