Kevin Sheehan began his conversation with newly signed Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz by remarking that he has had a "damn good career," but had to say, "I hope you're not done yet, you got a lot left?"
"Oh yeah, I feel great," Ertz told Sheehan. "Being out here in this environment with these coaches, it's really given me a renewed energy. I'll tell you last year in Arizona was extremely tough for a multitude of reasons, physically the coming off the ACL [injury] the prior year and just a lot of drama behind the scenes. So, I'm just excited to be here, start fresh with people that truly believe in me, they brought me here, they're a truly player empowerment staff, so they're really putting it on the leaders to set the tone for the team and the foundations for something that hopefully turns into something great. So, I'm excited to be a part of it."
Ertz added that he's always respected Washington from afar and always respected the Commanders' new head coach Dan Quinn from afar and he's really excited to join up with his former head coach in Arizona Kliff Kingsbury running an offense that he knows and has excelled in in the past.
On the vibe around Ashburn, Ertz said, "Don't get me wrong, everything is great when it's new and people are fresh and they have great energy. But I truly feel this is gonna be sustained energy, sustained success. Anybody can do anything once and fake it one time. I truly believe this place is building something special.
"Obviously, the NFC East is the best division in football in my opionin and I'm excited to be back in it. And I can't speak on what's happened in the past, but the foundation that they're laying down now is gonna last for a long time."
On Kingsbury, Ertz believes he will be a "phenomenal OC" after he "loved playing for him as a head coach."
"It's a really fun offense to play in," he continued. "All the skill guys are gonna love it, the o-line is gonna love it – cause we're gonna be on the attack, we're not just gonna sit there with the play [clock] ticking down worrying about delay of game penalties, we're gonna play on the attack. And I think that's our mindset, not only on offense but in this whole building – offense, defense, special teams – we wanna play on the attack. We want to set the tempo, we want teams to react to us. I think that's something that we're really trying to put our best foot forward this offseason to hold that standard."
On the quarterbacks – Ertz gave no indication of who he thought he would be playing with either Jayden Daniels or Marcus Mariota – but on the rookie he said his early impression was "very, very, very impressed."
"Obviously the physical traits jump out at you," he told Sheehan. "I've only been there with him for three days so I'm gonna leave it at that. I'm gonna leave my opinion able to change – not that I think it's going to – but I've been very, very impressed with the way he's approached this thing. His physical talent jumps off, don't get me wrong, the way he throws the ball, the snap when it leaves his hand.
"But the way [Daniels] approaches the game, the way he's committed to learning. It doesn't seem like nothing surprised him. His preparedness has been kinda unbelievable, honestly. You can tell how much he cares about being great for, not himself because he really deflects praise almost, per se, like, you talk to him on the side he always talks about his teammates at LSU or ASU.
"So I think this city and this community is really gonna love Jayden Daniels."
To listen to the full conversation – including Ertz talking about the challenges he's seen a young, highly drafted quarterback (he played with Carson Wentz and Kyler Murray earlier in their careers) with making the transition to the NFL, and much more – on the audio player above!