Zach Ertz isn’t having a great season.

The Birds’ always-reliable tight end has only caught 20 passes through five games, good for 145 yards and a touchdown. That’s a considerable dip coming off a season in which he went for more than 900 yards and six scores.

He wants a new contract but does not appear to be close with the Eagles on that front, and again brushed off the question today:

Ertz admitted before the season began that he was frustrated with his contract situation, but is that the reason for his dip in play? Is he being doubled too frequently? Carson Wentz off-target and not on the same page with him? The latter would be a head-scratcher, since the Wentz-to-Ertz connection has been one of the few sure bets the Eagles offense can rely on with the slew of injuries going back two years now.

This is what Doug Pederson said Monday about Ertz’s slow start:

“When I looked at the tape today, there were a couple opportunities for him to make plays. Carson, just the ball sailed a little bit high. We had a red zone route dialed up. We had a false start in the red zone where Zach had a potential touchdown pass there. Carson and Zach, they have to continue to work. I haven’t seen the ball travel as high towards Zach than it is right now, and those are things as we continue to work through during the week, those two guys will be on the same page.

So it’s just a little bit of missed timing right now with those two. But I know it’s something that they will work at and work on each week to get it corrected.”

We’ll see. Wentz needs to help Ertz and vice versa, or else that new contract might never materialize.