With so many injuries and an unexpected retirement from right tackle Lane Johnson, the Philadelphia Eagles don’t have any margin for error remaining. At least that’s the case when it comes to the team’s active roster.
And that fact puts the team in a very tough spot with tight end Zach Ertz.
The Eagles have already used all of Ertz’s practice squad elevations. Unless the team signs him to their active roster or releases him and then quickly re-adds the tight end to the practice squad before another team can, Ertz can’t play again this season.
Head coach Nick Sirianni addressed the situation and shared the team’s potential plan with the franchise legend in his Thursday press conference.
“Zach’s obviously still here. He’s out of elevations at this particular time,” Sirianni said, via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “I think Zach’s been having really good practices. We’ll see.
“There’s things that you can’t predict, but I love having Zach on this football team, and we’ll see as the season progresses.
“When he’s been in with the ones, he’s had great reps, and when he’s been in with the scout team, he’s given our defense great looks, phenomenal looks because of the player that he is and the teammate that he is.”
The Eagles signed Ertz to their practice squad on September 21. The team elevated Ertz to the active roster for each of his first three games in Weeks 3-5.
In those three contests, Ertz posted three receptions on eight targets for 22 yards. The tight end played 39 offensive snaps.
What Will Eagles Do With TE Zach Ertz?
The Athletic’s Zach Berman probably put it best when he called the situation the Eagles are in with Ertz “tricky.”
Without any elevations left, the Eagles are arguably wasting a practice squad spot on a 35-year-old tight end by doing nothing. But they also might need Ertz on the active roster later this season.
There’s just not much wiggle room on the active roster right now for Ertz with a full tight end room and injuries at so many other positions. Johnson is also still occupying a roster spot because of cap purposes.
“I thought there would be a runway to the 53-man roster,” wrote Berman. “Injuries elsewhere (and Lance Johnson’s retirement) have put roster spots at a premium.
“Eagles’ No. 3 TE E.J. Jenkins plays special teams. They have decisions to make with Eli Stowers and Grant Calcaterra in the coming weeks, too.
The ideal move for the Eagles would be to release Ertz and then re-sign him to the practice squad. That would reset his elevations total to zero.
But that move would expose the tight end to the rest of the league. The Eagles might not want to do that to the playmaker who sits seven receptions shy of the team’s all-time catches record.
So, the Eagles are kind of stuck. By remaining patient, though, the Eagles hope they will find another opportunity to use Ertz again this season.
Eagles’ Nick Sirianni Gets Honest on What Happens Next for TE Zach Ertz