By james art Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz has one touchdown catch in seven weeks as a member of the franchise, but that doesn’t even begin to describe the impact he’s had on the team.
Despite the fact that he and Commanders quarterback Jaden Daniels have yet to connect on a touchdown pass — they had a two-point conversion in Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals and Ertz’s touchdown came from quarterback Marcus Mariota — Ertz’s leadership has helped he team of almost all new faces came together faster than anyone expected.
His return to the NFC East after spending all or part of the last three outside of it has been a good one, and he’s had plenty of fun on Washington’s side this time around.
“It’s tough to win in this league and to be able to have the start that we’ve had, obviously not extremely, I’d say a hundred percent happy with where we’re at, but extremely excited about where we’re going,” Ertz said in a recent NFL appearance Network’s The internal ones program. “It’s really fun to be back in this division. I’ve obviously been here a long time, so I’ve really, really enjoyed my time so far at the DMV.”
Ertz spent his first eight seasons and part of his ninth with the Philadelphia Eagles, who drafted him in the 2nd round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Stanford.
The tight end with the Eagles didn’t end without some emotion involved, and the parting was relatively long. But from there he was traded to the Arizona Cardinals, where he spent the next 28 active games of his career before reuniting with coach Kliff Kingsbury with the Commanders.
“I think at this point in his career he’s had such an amazing career and we’ve got some bright young prospects in that room. So watching him help coach them, he knows he’s a great player, he knows what he can do, so he’s very confident in his role and who he is at this point in his career,” Kingsbury said for Ertz before the team’s offseason program this year. “So it was great to see him leave his legacy on these guys, with how he treats them, how he works with them, how he coaches them.”
Ertz has done much more than coach this season and is currently second on the team with 34 targets, 25 receptions and 268 yards.
As much fun as he’s had so far, Washington fans have also embraced him as one of the members of the new day in local football. One that will hopefully bring back some familiar but long-lost feelings of constant victory.
Ertz has three career touchdown catches against the franchise he’s now suiting up for, so it would be a bit of poetic justice to see him surpass that total for that now that he’s enjoying being a part of the DMV.
Stick with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more FREE coverage of the Washington Commanders in the 2024 season.
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