The Cardinals were riding an undefeated high when they opted to double down in a trade that sent Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz to Phoenix. The team had lost the emerging Maxx Williams to a torn ACL in Week 5 and had a large void at the position.
While the loss of Williams was still felt in both the locker room and rushing attack, the arrival of Ertz took the passing game to new heights. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the core of quarterback Kyler Murray, receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and Ertz were hardly together on the field all at once.
In only eleven games played with the team, Ertz tied the franchise record for receptions by a tight end, cementing his name with the great Jackie Smith back in 1967. He also had 574 yards receiving and three touchdowns.
Most games with 100 receiving yards among TE since 2016
Travis Kelce 27
George Kittle 13
Rob Gronkowski 12
Darren Waller 12
Zach Ertz 9 pic.twitter.com/wHit9RAnh2— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) February 28, 2022
Ertz quickly became close with Kyler Murray and didn’t take long to thrive in the offense. He was instrumental when Colt McCoy had to step in without DeAndre Hopkins at his disposal. Quite frankly, the Cardinals have never had a tight end as good as Ertz since moving to Arizona.
The Cardinals sent a fifth-round pick and rookie cornerback Tay Gowan in exchange for Ertz, who was on an expiring contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in about two weeks’ time. With that in mind, should the Cardinals extend Ertz, even with many other pressing needs at hand?
The short, and only answer, is yes.
The tight end position has been neglected by the organization for a very long time. When Hopkins went down, Ertz was the only skill player to maintain his high level of play. Others faded while Ertz remained consistent.
Spotrac has Ertz’s estimated annual salary at $7.6 million. A few similar contracts are that of Kyle Rudolph (two years, $12 million) and Rob Gronkowski (one year, $8 million). His contract would be very affordable for the Cardinals and his impact goes far beyond the statistics he puts up on the field. He is a safety net for Kyler Murray when plays break down. There is no reason for the Cardinals to let him walk.
It’s worth noting that following the midseason trade for Markus Golden in 2020, Steve Keim opted to re-sign him just prior to the start of free agency. The Cardinals also placed the transition tag on 2019 midseason acquisition Kenyan Drake. Historically, Keim and company have been in the business of extending players they acquire in trades.
Ertz himself has been very adamant that he would like to remain in Arizona. Cameron Cox of 12 News recently caught up with him, and the answer remained the same.
“I think I’ve made it very clear that I would like to be back in Arizona,” he said. “But at the end of the day, there’s a lot of things that are out of my control.”
Especially with incoming re-shuffle of the Cardinals’ skill position players, some stability would be very welcome for the 2022 season.
Re-sign Zach Ertz.
INTRODUCING… ZACH ERTZ.@ZERTZ_86 x #NationalTightEndsDay pic.twitter.com/gdSYxHsLLB
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) October 24, 2021
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