By Jordan Long
The Arizona Cardinals host the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday for their second preseason game. They will kick off the regular season on September 10th against Washington. Arizona received great news on tight end Zach Ertz as he is cleared for full football activities.
Ertz has been with Arizona since he was dealt from the Philadelphia Eagles on October 15, 2021. Arizona anticipated Ertz would help their tight end position. In 2021, Ertz appeared in 11 games for Arizona, catching 56 passes for 574 yards and 3 touchdowns. Arizona ended up making the postseason as a Wild Card team. They were beaten by the L.A. Rams 34-11. In the playoff loss, Ertz wasn’t a factor. He caught 3 passes for 21 yards.
Last year, Arizona expected Ertz to step his game up since it was his first full season in Arizona. It didn’t last. Ertz played in 10 games but was still productive with 406 yards and 4 touchdowns. He missed the final 7 games of the season. Ertz was shut down after he tore his ACL and MCL in week 10 when Arizona beat the L.A. Rams 27-17.
Since then, Ertz worked hard to be cleared for football activities this week. According to azcardinals.com, Head Coach Jonathan Gannon said, “He had to go check in with his surgeon and did awesome on all the testing. He immediately texted me when he was going back to the airport. He’s fired up. He wants to play football.”
This is a big step in Ertz’s recovery. He can now participate in full activities, but Ertz is still not ready for full NFL contact yet. Ertz needs to be off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and then start practicing. Once that happens, he will be back on the field trying to help this team win.
The Cardinals know how valuable Ertz is to this team. He is their veteran tight end. Arizona is hoping he will be able to play by week 1 and is on track to do that. Once cleared it gives quarterback Kyler Murray a key target to throw the football to. Arizona wants to improve on their 4-13 mark from last year.
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