If you don’t want to end your fantasy football season eating horse manure (or if you do…?), then this Fantasy Football Zach Ertz profile is for you.
As we gear up to the start of the NFL season, Football Absurdity is going to bring you a comprehensive breakdown of every notable player that will be available in fantasy football drafts. When you don’t see us talking about Christine Michael or Mike Davis, don’t get mad at us for neglecting your favorite sleeper. Get mad at yourself for having bad taste in football players. We are only focusing on the top-rated running backs in standard scoring and points per game leagues.
With my player profiles, I’ve only decided to go back to look at their fantasy scoring for three years. I could show you lists from earlier, but at the skill positions, I think three years is plenty to see what a player does. I’ve also added a chart for their usage over that time span. We will try to determine, based on those two factors, where the best tight end value lies.
Fantasy Football Zach Ertz
Current ADP (As of 9/3/2018):
Standard: TE3, #39 overall
PPR: TE3, #34 overall
Stats:
FANTASY FOOTBALL ZACH ERTZ SCORING — STANDARD
| Rank | Total Points | PPG Rank | PPG | |
| 2017 | 3 | 130.4 | 3 | 9.3 |
| 2016 | 8 | 105.6 | 11 | 7.5 |
| 2015 | 10 | 97.3 | 15 | 6.5 |
FANTASY FOOTBALL ZACH ERTZ SCORING — PPR
| Rank | Total Points | PPG Rank | PPG | |
| 2017 | 3 | 204.4 | 3 | 14.6 |
| 2016 | 6 | 183.6 | 3 | 13.1 |
| 2015 | 9 | 172.3 | 9 | 11.8 |
FANTASY FOOTBALL ZACH ERTZ USAGE
| Targets | Targets Per Game | Receptions | Receptions Per Game | Catch Rate | |
| 2017 | 110 | 7.9 | 74 | 5.3 | 67% |
| 2016 | 106 | 7.6 | 78 | 5.5 | 74% |
| 2015 | 112 | 7.5 | 75 | 5 | 67% |
Overview: Zach Ertz is on a steady incline up the fantasy football ranks, going from a backend TE1 in 2015 to being a set-and-forget weekly starter at the position, just behind Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce. His quarterback situation is in flux, but he averaged just two fewer fantasy points per game without Carson Wentz last year in both standard and PPR. Ertz was banged up early in camp, but looked fine in what is likely his preseason finale against Cleveland.
Strategy: Ertz is the first of the tight ends that I will likely never own. His upside is the #3 tight end without an injury to Kelce or Gronk, and he’s being drafted there. He’s not the thinking man’s tight end to draft in the 30s overall, as better values remain at running back and tight end, and he doesn’t offer a significant advantage over the rest of the position. It would be better to draft another TE later. After all, he was the late-round sleeper last year.
Ceiling: His 824 and 8 in 14 games last season feels like the top of what he will realistically do. However, in the sake of fairness, I will go for 900 and 9.
Floor: What will actually happen is Carson Wentz never plays a snap this season, Nick Foles reverts into Eagles Nick Foles. No, not last season’s Eagles Nick Foles. No, not his first season. You know, that second season after he was really good, then he was really bad? Yeah, he plays like that Nick Foles. And he drags the whole offense, including Zach Ertz, down with him.
