Suddenly, Zach Ertz May Not be Out of the Eagles' Picture

Speculation abounds as to the tight end's future, but after Howie Roseman restrucuted a couple more contracts, it may not be so far-fetched that the tight end sticks around

PHILADELPHIA – And just like that, in a simple wave of Howie Roseman’s magic salary cap wand, Zach Ertz is no longer a must-cut.

In fact, after the general manager restructured the contracts of right tackle Lane Johnson and defensive end Derek Barnett, the Eagles are now $14.041 million under the cap. To get there, Roseman converted Johnson’s base salary of $8.49M and $9.061M of Barnett’s base salary into signing bonuses while adding four voidable years onto Barnett’s deal, per ESPN’S Field Yates.

Suddenly, Ertz’s $8.5M salary seems palatable.

The question is, though, is Ertz happy?

Could Roseman lavish some of this newfound wealth to Ertz to you know, make things as right as they can possibly be after a very contentious offseason between the Pro Bowl tight end and the organization?

It’s all just speculation, of course, but it looks like Ertz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Asked Tuesday by SI.com Eagle Maven how much more Ertz will be involved in game-planning going forward in practice and potentially in games, head coach Nick Sirianni said: “Really, really impressed with Zach and his ability. He's been such a productive player in this league for so long, and you see it on game tape from afar, right?

“But then when you get to be able to go to practice and see in meetings, he's just a very instinctual player and very smart football player. We want to use those strengths that he has right there to be able to find holes in the defense because he does have this - he just has a supreme feel that is very typical among good players.”

The Eagles used a lot of 12-personnel during Tuesday’s practice, with Ertz and Goedert on the field for plenty of snaps together. Just like old times.

It would be nice to find out exactly how Ertz feels about everything, but he hasn’t spoken to the media, yet.

Well after practice ended on Tuesday, as Ertz was one of the last players leaving the field, a reporter cried out, “Come on, Zach, talk to us.”

Ertz simply lowered his head and said, “It’s out of my control.”

Who knows exactly what that means?

Zach Ertz / USA Today

What we know is that Ertz and Roseman were spotted in a lengthy conversation at one practice last week.

We also know that he has died his hair blond and has been spotted wearing his team-issued practice shorts inside out, with the team logo hidden from view. He’s made that fashion statement more than once to think it’s just a simple mistake of rising too early and being careless with how he dresses.

Finally, we also know that Ertz is having a solid training camp, so far, and his teammates have spoken highly of him.

If other teams tried to lowball offers to try to acquire Ertz during the past several months, wondering if he had anything left after a disappointing 2020, may be in for a surprise.

“It’s been good having Zach here,” said Goedert on Saturday evening. “It was unsure. It built up to this, but I’m glad he’s here, good friend of mine, I love competing with him every day. He’s a great player, so get to what see he’s doing, get to see what I’m doing, compare myself to him, compete with him every day. It’s fun having him here.”

On Tuesday, Ertz was the target on back-to-back team reps, one a shorter throw that he turned around and snared, got knocked to the ground, but got up and kept running. The other play saw him go in motion then run a deeper intermediate route that was a completion as Jalen Hurts hit him in stride.

“He’s been cool to me,” said defensive end Ryan Kerrigan last week. “We’ve chatted a couple times. Him and I have obviously battled against each other for almost a decade, but he’s been great. This is my first introduction to knowing him, more personally but he’s been welcoming and great.”

Here’s the thing with the Eagles and Ertz. Perhaps Roseman hopes the tight end will be motivated to have a strong season heading into free agency.

That now seems possible with him being obviously worked more and more into the offense.

Eagle Maven reported during the offseason that Ertz was told he would be the second option behind Goedert. Perhaps that is still true, but, with such a young receiving corps, the Eagles may rely on 12-personnel more than anyone knows except the coaches.

There is always the trade deadline as well when the Eagles could perhaps trade Ertz if the team doesn’t progress as much as hoped under Hurts and Sirianni.

Either way, Ertz is here, and looks like he might be here for a while longer.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.