4 Potential Philadelphia Eagles FA replacements for Zach Ertz in 2021

The Philadelphia Eagles have seemingly turned on Zach Ertz.

Heading into 2020’s offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles‘ vice president and general manager, Howie Roseman, made a statement that most of the media and Philly’s fans were already aware of. Too often, a man who has fallen out of favor with one of the NFL’s most loyal fanbases gets extremely attached to players on his, hence the constant overpayment of aging veterans.

Shortly after making that statement and holding up a sheet of looseleaf paper with the words ‘Can he run? Is he healthy? Does he love to play?’, Roseman traded for an oft-injured Marquise Goodwin during the 2020 NFL Draft. Then he signed a couple of old Eagles to one-year deals, Jason Peters and Vinny Curry. So much for getting younger and less expensive huh?

Before Curry and Peters’ reacquisition, good old Howie added guys like Javon Hargrave and Will Parks. He also wrote a couple of checks to keep Rodney McLeod and Jalen Mills in the fold. He even gave Peters a pay bump after The Bodyguard held the team to ransom following Andre Dillard’s injury. The question is why couldn’t one of the greatest Eagles of all time, Zach Ertz, get any love?

Philly exercised a one-year option that would keep 86 in the fold through the 2021 season, but after every attempt to extend him failed, contact talks ceased. Now, following a rough start to the 2020 campaign and an injury that has sidelined him since Week 6, the discussions about him range from ‘he’s cooked and Philly needs to trade him’ to ‘how can the Eagles organization pay everyone else and not pay him’?

Ladies and gentlemen, as hard as it may be for you to believe that Ertz could play for another team next season, it is a real possibility. Here are four potential 2021 free agents that could be realistic options if they move on from him.