{"id":265001,"date":"2026-02-10T13:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=265001"},"modified":"2026-02-09T16:46:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T21:46:40","slug":"commanders-face-uncertainty-in-top-nfl-free-agent-zach-ertz-3-teams-who-could-save-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/02\/10\/commanders-face-uncertainty-in-top-nfl-free-agent-zach-ertz-3-teams-who-could-save-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Commanders Face “Uncertainty” in Top NFL Free Agent – 3 Teams Who Could Save Him"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Washington Commanders likely entering a rebuild, the team faces uncertainty at the tight end position, which could lead to Zach Ertz departing in free agency. After suffering a gruesome torn ACL<\/a> during the 2025 campaign, it’s reported<\/a> that Ertz does not want his career to end on an injury. This means he still plans to play, and that might be a risk for the Commanders to invest in him even on a one-year contract. There are several top free agent tight ends next month, including Isaiah Likely, and with the team having almost $70 million in cap space, the Commanders are likely to move in a different direction without Ertz.<\/p>\n

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Commanders Face “Uncertainty” in Top NFL Free Agent Zach Ertz – 3 Teams Who Could Save Him<\/h2>\n

The problem that is stopping Ertz from returning to Washington is Kliff Kingsbury. He’s no longer on the team and joined Sean McVay’s coaching staff for the Rams, so the likelihood of the Commanders bringing back Ertz is slim. Either way, Washington is better off acquiring a long-term offensive weapon at the tight end position for quarterback Jayden Daniels. While the old philosophy was building an older roster to get the team to the Super Bowl to maximize Daniels’ rookie deal, the team will likely take a few steps back.<\/p>\n

This also means letting other pending free agents like Von Miller, Bobby Wagner and Deebo Samuel<\/a> leave to join elsewhere. However, at age 35, there is still some time for the veteran tight end. It will be harder for him to convince a team to take a chance on him, but when he’s healthy, Ertz proved that he has something left in the tank. Here are three teams that could save his career.<\/p>\n

Possible Next Teams<\/h2>\n

Kansas City Chiefs<\/h3>\n

Veteran tight end and pending free agent Travis Kelce continues to tease that he could return<\/a>. However, if retirement seems like the likely scenario for him, the Chiefs should get themselves another tight end. The team never found an adequate replacement once Kelce departs, but someone like Ertz could be a temporary fit in this offense. The Chiefs are no longer getting younger, even though they have Noah Gray<\/a>, so the team getting Ertz makes sense for him to win a possible Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Kansas City is expected to be back in the postseason in 2027 after a down year. Ertz is only one of the several veteran pieces that can help this offense that needs more experience.<\/p>\n

Baltimore Ravens<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, the Ravens will need to find backup help for Mark Andrews.<\/a> The team does not plan to get rid of Andrews after giving him a contract extension, but that was during the John Harbaugh era. While Ertz won’t replace Andrews as the starter for Lamar Jackson’s offense, the two tight ends could be something special in Baltimore. They have a similar size and abilities to snag the football and make a move to push the chains.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Eagles<\/h3>\n

If everything else fails for Ertz, a reunion could be possible to end his career. Ertz re-joining the Eagles before he retires wouldn’t be surprising. Despite the veteran losing his starting spot to Dallas Goedert<\/a>, there is still a chance for everyone to see the pair run it back for a couple of seasons and maybe a Super Bowl run again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Commanders have tough decisions to make this upcoming offseason, but one free agent might be leaving next month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4795,"featured_media":265002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,10,16,6431,21,8896],"tags":[7723,7811,3578,4793,9115,7466,7393,7638,339,8996,1211],"class_list":["post-265001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-ravens","category-chiefs","category-nfl-teams","category-eagles","category-washington-commanders","tag-baltimore-ravens-news","tag-chiefs-featured","tag-dallas-goedert","tag-deebo-samuel","tag-isaiah-likely","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","tag-philadelphia-eagles-news","tag-ravens-featured","tag-travis-kelce","tag-washington-commanders-news","tag-zach-ertz"],"modified_by":"Anthony Palacios","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265001"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265009,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265001\/revisions\/265009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}