Packers Made Offer for TE Zach Ertz Before he was Placed on IR

It’s been reported that prior to Zach Ertz ending up on IR, the Green Bay Packers were one of two teams that made a trade offer for him.

The trade deadline is quickly approaching, and many Green Bay Packers’ fans are hoping that GM Brian Gutekunst has been making some calls in an effort to bolster this roster for another Super Bowl run. Well, if you’re one of those fans, I have some good news.

It was recently reported by Ed Kracz of Sports Illustrated’s Eagle Maven that the Packers had not only made a call but that they also made an offer for Philadelphia Eagles’ star tight end Zach Ertz:

"“Interest in Eagles tight end Zach Ertz was percolating, and a source indicated that at least two teams, the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens, made offers right before he was placed on Injured Reserve on Oct. 22.”"

Robert Tonyan has emerged at the tight end position this season for Green Bay, totaling 230 yards on 18 receptions with five touchdowns, but with Josiah Deguara out for the season and Jace Sternberger playing a much smaller role than expected, the unit certainly could use a boost. Not to mention that Aaron Rodgers would benefit from another pass-catching option, since the wide receiver room – minus Davante Adams, of course – has underwhelmed without Allen Lazard.

Since entering the NFL in 2013, Ertz has become one of the NFL’s top pass-catching tight ends. Since 2015, he has had at least 800 receiving yards every season, a feat that no Packers’ tight end has even been close to since Jermichael Finley’s 767-yard season in 2011. That stretch from Ertz also included a 116 catch, nearly 1,200-yard season in 2018, and from 2017 to 2019, he found the end zone 22 times.

In six games this season, Ertz has 24 receptions for 178 yards with a touchdown, but as mentioned above, he was recently placed on IR. Originally, Ertz was expected to miss only 3-4 weeks with a high-ankle sprain, but NFL Network’s Mike Garofolo reported that the timeline has been extended to 4-6 weeks instead.

So given that bit of information, unfortunately, there’s no reason to expect that Ertz will end up in Green Bay and help the Packers with their Super Bowl push this season.

However, a silver lining, if you will, is that if you’re holding out hope that Gutey is going to make a big splash at the trade deadline this season, you now have some tangible evidence to be excited about with the news that he did at least make an offer for Ertz.

The NFL’s trade deadline is November 3rd, and there have been rumors swirling that the Packers are looking to land a wide receiver. It’ll be interesting to see how this next week plays out and if Green Bay does, in fact, make a move.