Since nobody on the Eagles staff seems able to give you a solid answer, I am here to tell you that, no, TE Zach Ertz will not play in Week 1. On August 14th, Ertz underwent surgery for a small groin tear. I should note that in NFL-speak, “groin injuries,” “sports hernias,” and, “core muscle injuries,” are really one and the same. There’s a nebulous distinction between those three, but you’ll rarely get enough information to categorize those with 100% certainty. Regardless, the rehabs are all very similar. In Ertz’s favor, he had the absolute best surgeon, Dr William Meyers. This is the guy who operated on Arian Foster, Adrian Peterson, Greg Jennings, Chris Ivory… you get the idea. One cool thing for me about having one great doctor do all these surgeries is that it gives me a better idea of how quickly players actually return to the field. As always, I’ll point out that each of these injuries was unique, as were the players. This is not a one-size-fits-all estimate. But I can look at these past return-to-play dates and project them onto the Eagles calendar to get a better idea of what the possibilities are.
The earliest anyone comes back from a William Meyers core muscle surgery, according to my database, is after missing five weeks. This surgery is often reported to as, “4 – 6 weeks,” but, in my records, I’m seeing that a better ballpark would be, “5 – 9 weeks.” I’d accept, “5-8,” if that makes you feel better. But there’s no reason to include four in there anywhere, as it simply doesn’t happen. Okay, it happened once, with WR Brad Smith in 2014, but the injury was reported as minor compared to most core muscle injuries, and I can’t confirm that it was done by Dr. William Meyers (which might indicate it was less severe). So let’s assume a best-case scenario that aligns to historical rehabs, and imagine that Ertz comes back after missing only five weeks. That would have him back on Friday September 18th, two days before the Week 2 game against the Cowboys. Maybe he’s even up to speed and able to play by then. But if I were a gambling man, and I so am, I’d say that we’re probably looking at Week 3 being the first realistic game Ertz could be coming back.
As always, my records only indicate what has happened in the past, not what will happen in the future. Maybe Ertz is the one who beats my estimate. Maybe Jay Ratliff thought the same thing before he missed more than a calendar year after his core muscle surgery. Just ask yourself who you should believe, history or Chip Kelly’s guys.
Update: Would you look at that? He did it, and he proved me wrong in the process. Ertz played Week 1, making his rehab the shortest sports hernia rehab I’ve recorded yet from Dr. William Meyers. Nice work Zach.
