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Report: Zach Ertz cleared for football activity, to return Week 1

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•08/14/23•

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(Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Arizona Cardinals tight end Zach Ertz is set to return by Week 1 this season, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

The perennial Pro Bowler tore his ACL and MCL last season during a Week 10 contest. Just nine months later, he’s reportedly ready to go. 

Ertz is set to enter his third season with the Arizona Cardinals nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Almost nine months after tearing his ACL and MCL, (Arizona Cardinal) TE Zach Ertz has been cleared for full football activity and is on track to start Week 1, source says,” Garafolo wrote on Twitter. “The three-time Pro Bowler was on pace for 86 catches, 745 yards and 8 TDs before injuring his knee in Week 10.”

In 10 games last season, Ertz had 47 catches for 406 yards, four touchdowns and 8.6 yards per catch. 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.

Over the course of his career, Ertz has 682 catches, 7,247 yards, 45 touchdowns and 10.6 yards per catch. Ertz 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.

Back in 2017, Ertz caught the go ahead touchdown in Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots, giving Philadelphia its first championship.

The three-time Pro Bowler was a second-round pick (No. 35 overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft out of Stanford. He was a unanimous All-American in 2012 and First-Team All-Pac-12 that same season.

Over the course of three seasons at Stanford, Ertz had 112 catches, 1,434 yards, 15 touchdowns and 12.8 yards per catch.

As a member of the Class of 2009, Ertz was a four-star recruit out of Danville (Calif.) Monte Vista, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 30 overall prospect in the state, the No. 13 tight end in the class and the No. 360 overall prospect in the class.