While his numbers don’t exactly jump off the page like they used to, Zach Ertz is in the midst of a pretty solid campaign. Entering Week 11, Ertz ranks eighth among tight ends in receptions (37), ninth in receiving yards (381) and ninth in targets (51). All told, that makes Ertz TE12 in PPR fantasy scoring to this point in the season. So, in most formats, Ertz has been a must-start each and every contest.
However, the Eagles present a unique challenge. Philadelphia’s passing defense as a whole has been fantastic this season. Despite often playing from ahead and having opponents pass on a whopping 59.9% of plays, the Eagles are surrendering only 173.4 passing yards per game — the lowest mark in the NFC. In the past three weeks, that figure falls to a paltry 142.0 opponent passing yards per contest.
As you might imagine, that suffocating secondary has made it difficult for tight ends to do much in their matchups with Philadelphia. In fact, the Eagles have allowed the third-fewest fantasy points per game to opposing TEs in 2024 and they are one of just two teams to have not conceded a touchdown to the position through 10 weeks.
Generally speaking, outside of a select few, most tight ends are pretty touchdown-dependant. So this meeting with Philadelphia doesn’t make Ertz seem all that viable. However, this is also a week where Trey McBride and Cade Otton are already on bye. It’s not like there’s a ton of amazing TEs sitting out there for free on your league’s waiver wire. If you’ve been riding with Ertz this long, you may not have a better option.
Ertz leads all Commanders skill position players with nine red zone targets. On the whole, he’s averaging a robust 6.3 targets per game since the beginning of Week 5. With Washington on the road on Thursday and likely set to play a majority of this tilt in a negative script, I don’t think volume is going to be an issue. I probably won’t touch him in DFS, but in season-long, I think the 34-year-old remains worthy of consideration.
Start or Sit Zach Ertz? Start.
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All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
