Roseman on potential Ertz trade: Gotta be right for both sides

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What will it take for the Eagles to trade Zach Ertz?

Well, they haven’t gotten that offer yet.

That’s obvious based on the fact that Ertz is still a member of the Eagles after months of trade talks. Recently, it was reported that Ertz has grown impatient as he waits to get traded, but Eagles general manager Howie Roseman isn’t going to trade Ertz just to appease him.

“Zach’s been a huge part of the success we’ve had since we drafted him. He is a heck of a player, he is a heck of a person and we value him,” Roseman said. “And for us to trade any player, it’s gotta make sense for both sides. It’s gotta make sense for the Philadelphia Eagles too.

“Because none of us had the year that we wanted last year but that doesn’t define who we are, who we are in our jobs. We know who he is, we know who he is both on and off the field and we value that. Anything that we do with any of our players is going to be based on anything that helps the Philadelphia Eagles as well.”

Roseman was speaking to Philadelphia-based reporters on Thursday afternoon, but he was also speaking to 31 other general managers across the NFL.

If you didn’t get his message, allow me to translate: Up your offers.

The Eagles are cap compliant without the $5 million they’ll eventually save when Ertz is traded and they’re in no hurry to deal him unless they get the desired compensation back. That desired compensation is reportedly a 3rd- or 4th-round pick. The Eagles aren’t budging.

It has been floated in reports that the Eagles would be willing to bring Ertz back in 2021 if a trade can’t be completed. That’s hard to see and it feels like more of a bargaining chip. Like in the case of Carson Wentz, it’s hard to bring a guy back after weeks and months of trade speculation.

The Eagles tried to get an extension done with Ertz during the 2019 season and then again last offseason but that deal never happened. Just before the season, Ertz questioned the Eagles’ commitment to him and then followed it with the worst statistical season of his career.

With that poor 2020 season, his trade value definitely took a big hit.

So does Roseman have any regrets about not trading Ertz last year?

“This is a guy that we didn’t want to trade last year because we wanted him to finish his career as an Eagle,” Roseman said. “When we looked at the history of tight ends in the league, you’re talking about a 30-year-old guy, you’re not talking about a guy who’s in his mid-30s. And his skillset, we felt like he had tremendous production going forward left in him. That’s what we still feel like with Zach.

“There’s nobody who works harder, he’s an incredible route runner, he has incredible hands, he’ll do anything to help the team. Our goal was to really try to extend him. That didn’t work out in August we hadn’t really thought about trading him. We were trying to do whatever we could to try to win and we knew he was a big part of that.”

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