Eagles beat writer Jeff McLane:

The Zach Ertz Catch of the Day had been a part of the last note in my observations after the previous two practices, but it deserves to go straight to the top after the tight end’s performance on Tuesday. Ertz had several standout moments, but his best grab came late in the session. QB Mark Sanchez threw a pass just slightly behind Ertz on a seam route, but with great body control he went up for the ball over LB Mychal Kendricks and came down with the catch. Ertz was slow to get up, but walked it off and returned. But that wasn’t all. During one series, he caught all three passes from Sanchez – a comebacker, a toss over the middle with LB Jordan Hicks on his back, and on a crosser. Ertz continues to work with the second team offense behind Brent Celek.

Ertz was the #13 TE in both standard and PPR formats despite only playing half of the Eagles’ snaps in his second year. Most (73%) of his snaps came on passing downs, so if his playing time is going to increase, a majority of the additional snaps are likely to come in run formations. Still, there’s upside with Ertz if he begins to see starter’s snaps. The Eagles lost their leading receiver -- first DeSean Jackson and then Jeremy Maclin -- in back-to-back seasons, so there will be opportunity from a targets standpoint.

The pressing question: How will the playing time between TEs Brent Celek and Zach Ertz be divided?

The passing of the torch many predicted for last season never really came to fruition. Celek was on the field for 827 of the offensive snaps, or 69 percent of the time, compared to 603 snaps (50 percent) for Ertz. It really does come back to blocking. Ertz was called on as a run-blocker 161 times last season to Celek's count of 443.

Ertz knows the only way to take over the lead role in this run-heavy system is to improve that area of his game, and he's worked towards that end. His busy travel itinerary this offseason in the name of getting better included a stop to study under former offensive line coach Hudson Houck.

It stands to reason that Ertz will see a jump in playing time as he continues to develop into a more well-rounded tight end. While Celek's snaps might very well drop as a result, Kelly is a huge fan of the nine-year veteran and will likely still deploy him quite a bit. It wouldn't be all that surprising, then, if we saw an increase in the number of two tight-end sets in 2015.

This makes a lot of sense and is something many predicted would happen when Kelly took over the team a few years ago, however it never really came about. With the loss of Jeremy Maclin at WR, the Birds are a bit unproven at wideout, and if Ertz is indeed improved and can earn more playing time, Celek can still hold his own at the position as both a blocker and receiver. We still rank Ertz higher on our TE list, consider him a mid-range TE1 option, and think this is the year he finally busts out a bit. However, it looks like Celek is going to remain a factor.

As the season progressed, it was clear that Zach Ertz was taking on a larger role in the Eagles' offense. Over the final four-game stretch of the season, Ertz edged out Brent Celek in total offensive snaps (168 to 167), and his historic 15-catch performance (an Eagles record) against Washington in Week 16 was the shining example of what Ertz might be able to accomplish in his NFL career.

Ertz was the #13 TE in both standard and PPR formats despite only playing half of the Eagles’ snaps in his second year. Most (73%) of his snaps came on passing downs, so if his playing time is going to increase, a majority of the additional snaps are likely to come in run formations. Still, there’s upside with Ertz if he begins to see starter’s snaps. The Eagles lost their leading receiver -- first DeSean Jackson and then Jeremy Maclin -- in back-to-back seasons, so there will be opportunity from a targets standpoint.

According to a person familiar with the situation who requested anonymity, Eagles QB Sam Bradford is "looking great", has been in the rehab room close to every day this summer, and should be ready to go when training camp opens.

That means Bradford should be out on the field for 11-on-11 drills for the start of training camp.

If Bradford is fully healthy and wins the starting job, then he's a threat to post low-end QB1 numbers in Chip Kelly's offense, which has been fantasy friendly towards quarterbacks over the last two seasons. The team is dealing with turnover at receiver, losing DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin in consecutive years, but Jordan Matthews, Nelson Agholor and Zach Ertz should be able to pick up the slack.

If you go by past accomplishments, Eagles WR Miles Austin is easily the team’s best wide receiver.

The reality is he hasn’t had a productive season since 2012, when he caught 66 passes for 943 yards and six touchdowns, but the Eagles would sign right now for anything close to those numbers.

Think about this: On an awful Browns team with quarterback havoc, Austin was on pace for 63 catches, 757 yards and three TDs before lacerating his kidney in a freak injury. Last year, Riley Cooper caught 55 passes for 577 yards and three TDs.

If sports science can keep him healthy, and with some stability at QB in Chip Kelly’s offense, Austin could at very least be more productive than Cooper and is probably more reliable than Josh Huff, who still has to prove he can be consistent and values the football.

Austin will have to battle some young guys drafted by Chip Kelly in order to get on the field, but like the piece mentions, Austin is pretty much the veteran presence at the position. With pass-catching RB Darren Sproles and emerging TE Zach Ertz also around, there are going to be a lot of targets to get the ball to, but Austin could be a guy who makes a move in camp and jumps on the fantasy radar, so he's perhaps worth keeping an eye on in this fast-paced offense.

Eagles beat writer Geoff Mosher broke down the team's roster, including the TE position and Zach Ertz.

Look for Ertz to make a sizable jump in snaps, and for Burton, an excellent special-teamer, to be groomed into a future No. 2 behind Ertz.

Ertz was the #13 TE in both standard and PPR formats despite only playing half of the Eagles’ snaps in his second year. Most (73%) of his snaps came on passing downs, so if his playing time is going to increase, a majority of the additional snaps are likely to come in run formations. Still, there’s upside with Ertz if he begins to see starter’s snaps. The Eagles lost their leading receiver -- first DeSean Jackson and then Jeremy Maclin -- in back-to-back seasons, so there will be opportunity from a targets standpoint.

Eagles RB Darren Sproles had some nice things to say about TE Zach Ertz.

"He has great hands, man," Sproles said last week, via CSN Philly. "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.

Ertz was the #13 TE in both standard and PPR formats despite only playing half of the Eagles’ snaps in his second year. Ertz played mostly (73%) on passing downs, so if his playing time is going to increase, a majority of the additional snaps are likely to come in run formations. Still, there’s upside with Ertz if he begins to see starter’s snaps. The Eagles lost their leading receiver -- first DeSean Jackson and then Jeremy Maclin -- in back-to-back seasons, so there will be opportunity from a targets standpoint.

"He's doing a great job for us,'' Eagles head coach Chip Kelly said of TE Zach Ertz. "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."

Ertz was the #13 TE in both standard and PPR formats despite only playing half of the Eagles’ snaps in his second year. Ertz played mostly (73%) on passing downs, so if his playing time is going to increase, a majority of the additional snaps are likely to come in run formations. Still, there’s upside with Ertz if he begins to see starter’s snaps. The Eagles lost their leading receiver -- first DeSean Jackson and then Jeremy Maclin -- in back-to-back seasons, so there will be opportunity from a targets standpoint. It's good to hear that Kelly is happy with his blocking -- that's the key to more playing time.

Eagles beat writer Jimmy Kempski of the Philly Voice:

Anytime a tight end made any kind of impressive catch, it always seemed to be Zach Ertz. He was very active, and is already becoming one of Sam Bradford's favorite targets. Ertz has said that he wants to be the best tight end to ever play the game. While that is obviously a very lofty goal, I feel fairly ceretain that if the Eagles play him as much as they should this season, he's going to put up big time numbers.

That's the rub with Ertz: Thus far, the team has limited his snaps to keep Brent Celek on the field due to his superior blocking. Ertz was the #13 TE in both standard and PPR formats despite only playing half of the Eagles’ snaps in his second year. Ertz played mostly (73%) on passing downs, so if his playing time is going to increase, a majority of the additional snaps are likely to come in run formations.