November 27, 2018
The lone unanimous bright spot in an otherwise (we'll be kind) sluggish Philadelphia Eagles offense in 2018 has been Zach Ertz, who has 84 receptions for 895 yards and six TDs. Ertz has already reached season highs for receptions and yards, and is on pace to shatter both team and NFL single-season receiving records.
Next Monday against the Washington Redskins, if he can catch seven passes, Ertz will pass Brian Westbrook (90 receptions in 2007) on the team's single-season receptions leader board, with a quarter of the season to go. But that only scratches the surface of what Ertz can do over the Eagles' final five games.
• Only 17 tight ends in NFL history have had at least 84 catches in one season. Ertz is already there with five games to play. Only three tight ends have ever had more than 100 receptions in any one season:
| Year | Player | Team | Receptions |
| 2012 | Jason Witten | Cowboys | 110 |
| 2004 | Tony Gonzalez | Chiefs | 102 |
| 2009 | Dallas Clark | Colts | 100 |
Ertz is on pace for 122.
• Only 20 tight ends in NFL history have had more than 1,000 receiving yards in a single season. Only two have had more than 1,300 yards.
| Year | Player | Team | Yards |
| 2011 | Rob Gronkowski | Patriots | 1,327 |
| 2011 | Jimmy Graham | Saints | 1,310 |
Ertz is on pace for 1,302.
• On the all-time Eagles receiving yards list, Ertz ranks 12th overall in just his sixth season. If he stays on his current receiving pace this season, he'll move ahead of Jeremy Maclin, Ben Hawkins, and Fred Barnett by the end of this season. He's only 439 yards away from Brent Celek for the Eagles' all-time lead among tight ends, which he should easily pass by early 2019, at the latest.
If he can stay healthy, there's an outside chance Ertz can pass Harold Carmichael for the team's all-time yards record before his 32nd birthday.
• Just looking at receptions, Ertz is already fourth in team history.
| Player | Receptions |
| Harold Carmichael | 589 |
| Pete Retzlaff | 452 |
| Brian Westbrook | 426 |
| Zach Ertz | 405 |
Ertz could own that record before he turns 30.
My conclusion: Zach Ertz is good. Doug Pederson pointed on Monday out why he thinks Ertz has taken his game to the next level.
"One, I think it's a combination of how he's worked in the off-season," he said. "How he has prepared himself for the season. He's a year older, a year wiser. He is understanding defense, leverage, how teams are trying to either take him away or defend him. I think that’s part of it. I think the other thing is the emergence of and really the influx of the talent on offense. You think about Alshon and the things he's done, and now Dallas [Goedert] being at that position. It's really kind of freed up Zach for us to move him around a little bit and put him into some receiver-type positions and be successful there.
"So I think it's a combination of stuff, but definitely a credit to him and how he works, how he prepares. I think just being a year older has really helped him."
In the past, a criticism of Ertz's was that he was far too willing to concede tackles to smaller defensive backs once he had the ball in his hands, thus lowering his effectiveness getting yards after the catch. PhillyVoice critiqued that deficiency in detail during the 2016 season.
More recently, Ertz has done a far better job of fighting for extra yards after the catch. On Sunday, for example, Ertz caught a ball near the eight yard line, broke a tackle, then powered through two more defenders on his way to the end zone.
11 to 86 for 6.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/YKJiP1XDrk
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 25, 2018
"I think [his yards after the catch] are part of what's making him have the season he's having," Pederson said. "Where we were on the field and needed at that point to get in the end zone. It was a great — first of all, it was a great catch stepping back through the linebacker, through the defender, to be able to catch the ball and break that tackle and get in the end zone. Those are all things you expect from your tight end, and he has really taken that to another level for him this year."
That is simply not a play Ertz used to make.
If you look at Ertz's numbers from his rookie year to this season, there's a strong argument to be made that they have improved every year.
| Zach Ertz | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| 2013 | 36 | 469 | 13.0 | 4 |
| 2014 | 58 | 702 | 12.1 | 3 |
| 2015 | 75 | 853 | 11.4 | 2 |
| 2016 | 78 | 816 | 10.5 | 4 |
| 2017 | 74 | 824 | 11.1 | 8 |
| 2018 (5 games remaining) | 84 | 895 | 10.7 | 6 |
Ertz has a fourth quarter, lead-changing Super Bowl touchdown reception to his credit, and provided he stays healthy, there's no reason to think he won't continue to pile up big numbers over the next 5-10 years alongside Carson Wentz. If so, he's going to be in Canton.
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