Eagles stole a really solid prospect from Cardinals in Zach Ertz trade
The Philadelphia Eagles had to say a tough goodbye to tight end Zach Ertz, but they may have stolen a really good prospect from the Cardinals.
The Philadelphia Eagles made the difficult decision with a 2-4 record after six games in 2021 to trade away team legend Zach Ertz to the Arizona Cardinals.
Ertz leaves the Eagles with the second-most receptions in team history and gives the Arizona Cardinals yet another impressive weapon in an already impressive group of skill players.
Ertz has been a player that has come up in a variety of trade rumors since the beginning of the 2021 offseason, but ultimately, the Eagles apparently didn’t like the value they were being offered in return for Ertz so they decided to keep him to open the 2021 season.
Although the NFL trade deadline is not for a few weeks, Philadelphia finally got appropriate value in return and may have stolen a pretty darn good prospect away from the Arizona Cardinals in the process.
Eagles stole a really solid prospect from Cardinals in Zach Ertz trade
In exchange for Zach Ertz, the Eagles got not only a fifth-round draft pick but they also got sixth-round cornerback Tay Gowan.
Gowan played just one season at UCF after transferring from Miami (OH) and that lone season as a member of the UCF program was back in 2019.
In 12 games of the 2019 season, Gowan picked off a pair of passes and had eight passes broken up as well as a fumble recovery.
He sat out the 2020 season amidst the pandemic and put on a show at his pro day ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 186 pounds, Gowan ran a 4.44 in the 40-yard dash and had a 6.88 in the three-cone drill along with a 35.5-inch vertical jump.
All of the physical tools are there but Gowan was a pre-draft favorite of many in the NFL Draft community based on his outstanding ball skills in such a limited sample at UCF.
The Eagles have been desperately trying to find good help at the cornerback position opposite Darius Slay, whether for the short term or long term and Gowan was obviously a player they thought highly of in this year’s draft class.
Philadelphia used a fourth-round pick on Texas Tech’s Zech McPhearson at the position, but he’s played almost strictly special teams.
Besides Slay, it’s been Steven Nelson and Avonte Maddox taking the majority of snaps at cornerback for the Eagles so far this season. Considering they moved on from Zach Ertz to get him (and probably took a discounted draft pick in return to complete the trade), it would be shocking if we didn’t see Gowan on the field for Philadelphia soon.