Does Zach Ertz Have a Future in Philly?

It has seemed as if there has been a new report on Zach Ertz's future in Philly every few days for the past nine months, but Ertz remains in midnight green. This leaves the lingering question, what is the Eagles’ plan for the Pro Bowl tight end? Coming into the offseason, it was reported that Ertz would be traded either before or during the draft, but to everyone’s shock, they didn't deal Ertz over that time span. Reports have surfaced over the past week that Howie Roseman and the Eagles front office won't trade Ertz for a late round draft pick, and there is very little chance he is released, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

With Ertz not showing up to voluntary OTAs for the first time in his career, and likely holding out of training camp, would it be in the Eagles’ best interest to release Ertz? It was believed that the Eagles would release Ertz on June 1st because they could clear up $8.5 million in cap space. However, we are one week into June and Ertz is still on the roster. Additionally, the contract extension talks between Dallas Goedert and the Eagles are ongoing, and it is extremely likely the Eagles lock up their young star tight end for the future.

With the current tight end situation in Philadelphia, it was presumed that the Eagles would release Ertz and use his cap space to fill other needs. But is it really that simple? The question that needs to be asked is why has Howie Roseman kept an aging veteran that wants to be moved, especially when they already have a far more valuable player at the same position? Well, the answer is pretty simple, and that is that Howie Roseman values Ertz's leadership due to the lack of experience at the skill position. Zach Ertz and veteran quarterback Joe Flacco are the only two skill position players on the roster that have more than three years of experience, and it is clear the front office highly values Ertz's veteran leadership for an extremely young offense. It will be interesting to see how Ertz's situation is handled in the coming months, but the Eagles need to make a change if they want to keep the former Pro Bowl tight end.