Zach Ertz is a tight end. He played football and basketball in high school, concentrating on football when he got to college. He played for Stanford, where after a redshirt freshman season he finished with college stats of 112 receptions for 1,434 yards and 15 touchdowns in his final three seasons. Ertz was a finalist for the John Mackey Award in 2012, the prize given to the best tight end in college football.
Zach Ertz was above average from an athletic standpoint heading into the NFL Draft, posting a 72nd percentile SPARQ-X score. He ran a 40 time of 4.76, contributing to 58th percentile Speed Score of 97.8. Ertz also boasted a 61st percentile wingspan of 10.05. The Philadelphia Eagles selected him in the second round of the draft.
Between 2015 and 2019, Ertz had at least 800 yards in every season. He is one of only five tight ends in NFL history with five straight seasons of 800 or more yards. Ertz enjoyed his most productive season in 2018 when he caught 116 passes for 1,163 yards. This set both an Eagles single-season record for receptions, along with being the most by a tight end in NFL history. Ertz was able to do most of his best work downfield, finishing no worse than No.4 in Completed Air Yards between 2016 and 2019. He led all tight ends in this category in 2018 with 848.
After a disappointing 2020 campaign and a slow start to the 2021 season, the Eagles traded Ertz to the Arizona Cardinals. In 17 games for both teams, Ertz finished No.4 among all tight ends with 74 receptions for 763 yards. Once again, he was among the leaders downfield, with only six tight ends amassing more completed air yards than Ertz, who finished with 478. But strangely, he only saw four deep balls all season. Ertz was No.20 among all tight ends in snap share, playing 70.25 of the Cardinals and Eagles offensive snaps. But when he was on the field, his quarterbacks looked for him, as evidenced by his Target Rate of 27.1%, No.5 among all tight ends, and a target share of 19.3 percent. Ertz was No.11 in routes run with 414. His fantasy ranking at the end of the 2021 season was the TE10 in points per game. It wasn't all smooth sailing, as Ertz did commit five drops.
Ertz will long be remembered by Eagles fans as the man who caught the deciding touchdown in their Super Bowl LII victory over the New England Patriots. He is also second all-time for the team in career receptions, with 579.
