Arizona Cardinals grant tight end Zach Ertz's request for release

Former Arizona Cardinals star J.J. Watt broke big news about his former teammate Zach Ertz on Thursday leading up to Week 13 games. According to Watt, the Cardinals granted Ertz’s request for his release this week. Now, the veteran is free to join a new team – hopefully, a playoff contender. That’s Ertz’s plan anyway.

“Trying new things in retirement, so let’s steal @AdamSchefter job for a day… ” Watt posted on X with the news. “(This is easy Adam).”

The former Eagles star already has one Super Bowl win under his belt and is looking for another before potentially hanging up his cleats. Ertz is in his 12th season in the NFL after the Eagles drafted him with the No. 35 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft out of Stanford.

The perennial Pro Bowler tore his ACL and MCL last season during a Week 10 contest. Nine months later, he was able to make his return for Week 1 of the 2023 season. He had 47 catches for 406 yards four touchdowns before the injury last year.

He played six games with the Eagles in 2021 before a midseason trade to Arizona. While with the Cardinals in 2021 (11 games), Ertz had 56 catches, 574 yards, three touchdowns and 10.3 yards per catch.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the remaining tab on Ertz’s salary is $2.5 million. He signed a three-year, $31.65 million contract extension in March of 2022.

Over the course of his career, Ertz has 709 catches, 7,434 yards, 46 touchdowns and 10.5 yards per catch. He set the NFL record for catches by a tight end in a single season in 2018 with 116 and also had a career-high 1,163 yards and eight touchdowns.

Super Bowl contenders court Shaquille Leonard

Just as Zach Ertz will be coveted by teams hoping he can make a difference on the way to a Super Bowl this season, former Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard is currently a hot commodity. The Dallas Cowboys hosted him for a visit on Tuesday, and the Eagles are doing the same to end the week.

The Colts selected the standout out of South Carolina State with the No. 36 overall pick in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, Leonard led the entire NFL in tackles with a career-high 163 tackles adding seven sacks, two interceptions, and four forced fumbles to his stat line.

He earned NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2018 and First-Team All-Pro honors, which he’d go on to achieve two more times in his career along with a Second-Team selection and three Pro Bowl appearances.