Report: Packers, Ravens made trade offers before Eagles put Zach Ertz on injured reserve

The Philadelphia Eagles received trade offers for Zach Ertz before placing him on injured reserve last week, according to a report from Ed Kracz of EagleMaven. Kracz specifically notes the Green Bay Packers and the Baltimore Ravens were “at least” two of the teams that reached out to Philly.

That the Eagles have drawn offers for Ertz isn’t news; we made mention of that last week here on Bleeding Green Nation. But now we’re hearing of the actual teams that are interested in the veteran tight end.

Of course, this information could be moot in the short-term. The understanding is that the Eagles can’t trade Ertz now that he’s on IR. Per Albert Breer:

“The Eagles have gotten a lot of calls on their players as well, which makes sense given how their season’s gone and where their cap is the next couple of years. Alshon Jeffery is very clearly available. There have been calls on tight end Zach Ertz, too, and Philly delaying a day or two on moving Ertz to IR raised some eyebrows—this year, you have to designate guys on IR as having major or minor injuries, and guys categorized as having minor injuries can’t be traded. The Eagles designated Ertz as a minor injury, so that’s that on him.”

While the Eagles might not be able to trade Ertz ahead of the Nov. 3 deadline, they obviously can move him when the new league year begins in March 2021. Trading Ertz in the offseason would help the Eagles clear $4.7 million in cap space (though still $7.8 million in dead money) while also netting an asset or two in return. The front office will likely be hoping to get a Day 2 pick in return.

The offers the Eagles received before recently placing Ertz on IR clearly weren’t satisfactory. That’s not exactly hard to imagine considering the soon-to-be 30-year-old tight end isn’t having a good season and now he’s hurt. The Eagles would be selling low on a player they sentimentally value.

But the reality is a trade is what’s probably best for both sides moving forward. The Eagles shouldn’t be giving Ertz the long-term deal he’s seeking. Perhaps he can get that money elsewhere.

Ertz isn’t expected to return from IR until Week 11 at the earliest. His ankle injury might keep him out even longer than that. Maybe he returns and looks really good down the stretch. Or maybe there are more struggles in store.

In any case, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Ertz after the 2020 season. The Packers and Ravens will be two teams to watch now that we’ve heard about their interest in him.