The Washington Commanders are in talks to sign tight end Zach Ertz, according to Peter Schrager of Fox Sports.
Ertz began the 2023 campaign with the Arizona Cardinals and played seven games for the team before being waived in November. During his time on the field, he logged 27 catches for 187 yards and a touchdown.
The 33-year-old then went on to sign with the Detroit Lions during the team’s playoff run, but he did not actually play in any games for the squad.
Now, Ertz is a free agent, and while he is certainly not the same player he was years ago, the fact that he is already drawing interest is not surprising.
Ertz is just two years removed from a fairly productive campaign with the Cardinals in which he registered 47 catches for 406 yards and four scores in 10 games.
The Commanders’ interest in Ertz comes just days after they released fellow tight end Logan Thomas, leaving a rather gaping hole at the tight end position for the club.
While Ertz would almost surely not be Washington’s sole solution at tight end, he would definitely add some veteran depth and, at the very least, could help mentor a young tight end if the Commanders choose to draft one this spring.
Ertz, who played his collegiate football at Stanford, was originally selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
He spent the first eight-and-a-half years of his career with the Eagles, making three straight Pro Bowl appearances between 2017 and 2019. His best season during that stretch came in 2018, when he hauled in 116 receptions for 1,163 yards and eight touchdowns.
Philadelphia traded him to Arizona midway through the 2021 campaign. He totaled 74 grabs for 763 yards and five scores as a whole that year.
Ertz has certainly declined since then, but he could probably still help a team in need of reliable weapons like the Commanders.
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