Zach Ertz is headed to Arizona, and I have some interest. That offense has been rolling this year, and I think he could fit in rather nicely.
Ertz isn’t much of an in-line blocker. They didn’t trade for him in hopes of him blasting open holes for their running game. He’s a pass catcher, and Kliff Kingsbury wanted to add that dimension back into his offense after losing Maxx Williams to a season-ending knee injury.
Prior to his injury, Williams had caught 15 passes in the team’s previous three games (oddly more than DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Green or any of their other wide receivers).
Arizona also got surprisingly decent production in 2020 from Dan Arnold (who then signed with Carolina in the offseason).
If we look at the last 14 games that the Cardinals had either Arnold or Williams in the lineup, I’m seeing 37 catches for 520 yards and 5 TDs. That’s an average of 2.6 catches for 37 yards per week, with about a touchdown every three games.
I think that’s probably a reasonable starting point in trying to gauge what kind of numbers to expect from Ertz. He’ll need to learn their system, but he’s a more experience and perhaps better pass catcher than either of those guys.
When Kingsbury was coaching at Texas Tech, he didn’t use tight ends at all for a few years – just wasn’t part of the offense. But he’s adapted his system to fit the pros, and it’s looking like Ertz might be a top-15 player at the position in the second half of the season.
| ARIZONA TIGHT ENDS; LAST 14 GAMES | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Result | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD |
| Dan Arnold | Sea. | W 37-34 | 3 | 2 | 57 | 0 |
| Dan Arnold | Mia. | L 31-34 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 0 |
| Dan Arnold | Buff. | W 32-30 | 4 | 4 | 34 | 0 |
| Dan Arnold | at Sea. | L 21-28 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Dan Arnold | at N.E. | L 17-20 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 0 |
| Dan Arnold | LAR | L 28-38 | 3 | 2 | 61 | 2 |
| Dan Arnold | at NYG | W 26-7 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 1 |
| Dan Arnold | Phil. | W 33-26 | 5 | 3 | 54 | 0 |
| Dan Arnold | S.F. | L 12-20 | 5 | 3 | 25 | 0 |
| Dan Arnold | at LAR | L 7-18 | 3 | 3 | 46 | 0 |
| Maxx Williams | at Ten. | W 38-13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Maxx Williams | Minn. | W 34-33 | 7 | 7 | 94 | 0 |
| Maxx Williams | at Jac. | W 31-19 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 0 |
| Maxx Williams | at LAR | W 37-20 | 5 | 5 | 66 | 1 |
—Ian Allan