Former Eagles Star, NFC East Rival Delivers Clear Message On Old Team

One of the more intriguing comeback stories in the 2024 NFL season was that of left-for-dead tight end Zach Ertz, who breathed life back into his career with the Washington Commanders.

Ertz played almost a decade with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013 to 2021 and got to face his former team 3 times in his return to the NFC East — twice during the regular season and in the NFC Championship Game.

While the Eagles are now defending Super Bowl champions, the Commanders and Ertz enter 2025 as Super Bowl contenders for the first time in a generation. If they want to reach the mountain top, they’ll have to topple their division rivals at some point.

Ertz laid out a simple blueprint on how that might happen while talking with RG.org’s D.J. Siddiqi.

“I feel like if I had that answer, everyone would know it and (the Eagles) would be 0-17,” Ertz told Siddiqi. “They’re extremely well coached. They have a lot of talented football players. The key to winning every game is who’s going to execute better, who’s going to turn the football over less, and who’s going to limit or have more explosive plays, That is the recipe for all games — it’s not just about the Philadelphia Eagles.”

Ertz played 2024 on a 1-year, $3 million contract and re-upped with the Commanders on a 1-year, $6.25 million contract on March 6.

Tense Moment Between Sirianni, Ertz in Postgame

The reason Commanders-Eagles games are going to be must-see TV in 2025 is because the longtime rivals finally played each other with something on the line in 2024 and things got pretty tense in the best ways possible.

One of the more notable moments was a tense postgame exchange between Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and Ertz following Washington’s 36-33 win in Week 13.

The win snapped the Eagles’ 10-game win streak.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane reported that Sirianni apologized to Ertz via a Zoom call about a postgame confrontation that seemed to start when Ertz took exception to something Sirianni said to him right before Sirianni shook hands with Washington head coach Dan Quinn.

In a video shared by JP Finlay of NBC Sports, Ertz appears to walk over to Sirianni and angrily asks “What?” as the 2 begin to walk and jaw at each other.

Ertz and Sirianni were eventually separated by Eagles chief security officer Dom DiSandro.

“… their brief dust-up saw Ertz take exception to a comment Sirianni made about his performance in the game,” McLane wrote.

Ertz Brought Career Back To Life In D.C.

Ertz, who will turn 35 years old in November, saw his career come back to life in his first season in Washington.

Ertz hadn’t played a full season since 2018 as his career was decimated by injuries. The 3-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion was on his fourth team in four years. He hadn’t cracked 500 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in a season since 2021.

In 2024, Ertz was paired with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and played every game for the first time since 2018 and was second on the team with 66 reception for 654 yards and 7 touchdowns.