‘I've had all the stats I need:' How Zach Ertz revived his career

He was a man without a team, a Super Bowl hero without a future.

One-time Eagles great Zach Ertz had just 47 catches for 406 yards in 2022 in his first full year with the Cards playing for Kliff Kingsbury and a career-low 27 catches for 187 yards last year, when Kingsbury was gone and injuries wiped out much of his season.

The Cards released him in November and he signed to the Lions’ practice squad for their playoff run but never got into a game. 

And once the Lions’ season ended with a loss to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, Ertz found himself out of work. He was 33, three years removed from his last big season, coming off his worst NFL season.

It seemed like maybe the end of the line for the Eagles' 2013 2nd-round pick.

“It was extremely difficult coming off the knee injury playing for Kliff and then he's gone after a year after signing the long deal and so just I was out of the league for a long time I really didn't know what the future held,” Ertz said this week.

“I didn't know if I was going to be done after I didn't get picked up for a long time. I had opportunities to play but it wasn't the right opportunity.”

Last February, new Commanders head coach Dan Quinn hired Kingsbury as their offensive coordinator and just five weeks later they signed Ertz.

All of a sudden, he had a future.

“When Cliff got this job and D.Q. (Quinn) got this job, it was really an opportunity for me to just fall back in love with the game again and really just enjoy the process again. And just be around people that know how to use me and allow me to be at my best. 

“And so, it's just been so much fun. It's exceeded all my expectations. Obviously, playing with a quarterback like Jayden (Daniels) has helped a ton, and just his humility and eagerness to grow. And I still feel like we're just scratching the surface together as a quarterback-tied-in relationship, even though it's the NFC Championship. I still feel like there's so much room to grow. … It means a ton obviously. Just to have this opportunity.”

Ertz revived his career with 66 catches for 654 yards and seven touchdowns for the Commanders, his best season since 2021. He has seven more catches for 51 yards and a TD in the postseason as he prepares to return to the Linc for Sunday’s NFC Championship Game vs. the Eagles.

Ertz caught 579 passes for 6,267 yards and 38 touchdowns in 8 ½ years with the Eagles and nobody will ever forget his monster Super Bowl – the 4^th-down catch in the fourth quarter and the game-winning touchdown later on that drive. 

Twelve years in, Ertz has built up quite a body of work. He passed Jimmy Graham and Greg Olsen and moved into sixth all-time among tight ends with 775 receptions. And he’s ninth with 8,088 yards and 12^th with 53 touchdowns.

He now has 43 career postseason receptions, tied for 11^th-most among tight ends with former teammate Dallas Goedert. 

After Terry McLaurin, he was Daniels’ favorite target this year, with 66 catches for 654 yards and seven touchdowns.

“I don't think there was a point where I was like, ‘Man, I'm going to retire, this is probably it,’” Ertz said. “But I do think that those thoughts of, ‘Are you still the same player,” creep in when you have the year like last year, where it was just extremely difficult.

“Came back from the knee injury probably a little too early. And then you're out of the out of the league for eight weeks or however long it was and the film probably wasn't as good as it could have been and so it's just like, ‘Are you gonna be the same player when you come back?’”

The answer is yes.

Maybe not the same guy who caught an NFL tight end-record 116 passes back in 2018 or made three straight Pro Bowls from 2017 through 2019.

But still one of the NFL's best tight ends. His 66 receptions ranked 6^th in the NFL among tight ends this year, and his seven touchdowns were 4^th-most. He goes into Sunday’s game with 43 career postseason catches, tied for 11^th-most by a tight end in NFL history. Former teammate Dallas Goedert also has 43.

How did it happen?

Ertz said the early end to his 2024 season – his last game was Week 7 - allowed him an extra-long stretch of training time, something he’s never had.

“I really just went back to my roots, went back to training with the strength coach from (Stanford) that I trained with for a long time. … It was really kind of the longest time I had training straight since I started playing football. I had six months to train straight and so for me just to be able to have that training again at my age, it was awesome to be able to just grind and get explosive again, feel fast again. 

“And so I just wanted the opportunity to come out here and prove that I am still the same guy. And it's been awesome to be able to go out there and make plays for this team. Obviously, I'm not playing 90 percent (of the snaps) like I used to, but it's a good percentage, and I feel like I'm used effectively and trying to make an impact. 

“And it's not the volume for me anymore. I've had all the stats that I need to have. It's just about making an impact however I can.”

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