By Mary Cunningham
Eagles running back Darren Sproles is just the latest member of the Zach Ertz fan club.
Tight end Ertz provided a glimpse of his potential with a franchise-record 15 receptions in a December loss to the Washington Redskins last season.
Sproles, who has been training with Ertz this offseason, believes there will be more where that came from in the future.
“He has great hands, man,” Sproles told NFL.com. “His hands and his route running are just great, really. He’s about to be a superstar.”
Ertz has earned praise from coaches and teammates for his impressive showing in OTAs and minicamp.
“I know he’s doing a great job for us,” coach Chip Kelly said. “He’s got an unbelievable work ethic, has really had no offseason in terms of what he did this past — from when our season ended against the Giants to when we started the offseason program in terms of what he did to work on his craft and make himself better not only as a receiver but as a blocker.”
To Kelly’s point, Ertz hired legendary offensive line coach Hudson Houck to work on his blocking and has met with future Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez for advice on playing tight end at a high level.
Ertz’s talent is abundantly evident. His hands and athleticism earned him a spot on our “Making the Leap” list last offseason.
If his blocking improves to the point where he’s playing closer to 75 percent of the snaps as opposed to the 52 percent he played in 2015, Ertz will have a good chance to lead the Eagles in receiving.
