Ertz to miss all of preseason after "core muscle" surgery
Zach Ertz had surgery to correct a "core muscle injury" and will be sidelined for all of the preseason, Chip Kelly said Friday.
Tight end Zach Ertz had surgery to correct a "core muscle injury" and will be sidelined for all of the preseason, the Eagles said on Friday.
The team expects Ertz to be ready by the start of the regular season on Sept. 14. A "core muscle injury" can often be characterized as a sports hernia, but Ertz had a partial tear of his groin muscle, according to NFL sources.
"The biggest thing for us in this situation, to be honest with you, is that it's something that we wanted to get cleaned up," Eagles coach Chip Kelly said before the surgery was announced. "So the [preseason] reps weren't really important. I think in the long term, he's going to be a lot better for it. We just wanted to get it out of the way."
William Meyers of Penn Medicine performed the surgery on Friday at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. Meyers handles many of the "core muscle" surgeries for NFL players. If Ertz had a sports hernia procedure, it would typically require six to eight weeks of recovery time.
"Dr. Meyers said it's going to be a couple of weeks and thinks he'll be fine by the opener," Kelly said. "So I said, 'If we got to shut him down now, I'd rather shut him down now than sometime in the middle of the season.' "
Eagles tight end Brent Celek played with a sports hernia injury in 2011 and elected to wait until after the season to have surgery. Center Jason Kelce underwent sports hernia surgery last season and missed five weeks. He said his injury was centered in his abdominal area.
"The reason why sports hernia is misunderstood is because a lot of people associate it as an abdominal injury, but really it's - and this is why Dr. Meyers always wants it classified as a 'core muscle injury' - all your groins, abductors and rectus that connect down on the pelvic bone," Kelce said. "And that's what a sports hernia is because it could be any of that."
Kelce said that he first injured his abdomen in last year's season opener, but it wasn't detected. The following week against the Redskins, though, he completely tore the muscle. Kelce missed only four weeks and a bye week, but he said he probably returned too earlty and wasn't 100 percent the rest of the season.
"Ertz's isn't a full tear, from what I understand," Kelce said. "I think when it's partially torn you can get it fixed and be on the field very quickly."
Ertz didn't miss a game in his first two NFL seasons. He caught 58 passes for 702 yards and three touchdowns last year despite playing only 50 percent of offensive snaps. He's likely to have an even bigger role this season, although Celek is still prevalent.
Trey Burton also returns at tight end and the Eagles have three undrafted rookie tight ends - Eric Tomlinson, Justin Tukes and Andrew Gleichert - on the 90-man roster.
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