Buffalo Bills should avoid a trade for tight end Zach Ertz

The tight end position is one that the Buffalo Bills are likely to address this offseason. General manager Brandon Beane talked about it at the end of the season press conference.

The production, or lack thereof, from Dawson Knox and Tyler Kroft certainly doesn’t make it a surprise that this would be viewed as a position of need. The Bills passing attack made tremendous progress last year but the tight ends were often overlooked.

Recently, Pro Football Focus put together 10 trades that make sense for this offseason and one of those trades includes the Bills sending a sixth round pick to the Eagles for veteran tight end Zach Ertz.

At one time, Ertz was one of the best tight ends in the NFL and had three straight trips to the Pro Bowl from 2017 to 2019. Since joining the Eagles, Ertz has 6,078 receiving yards and 36 touchdowns.

While a sixth round pick doesn’t cost much and if that is all that is needed, it would make sense for the Buffalo Bills to be interested. However, this is a trade that doesn’t make much sense when considering the team would be trading for Ertz and his $8 million salary next season.

The Bills are up against the salary cap and adding that much salary can impact whether they are able to retain players like Jon Feliciano, Daryl Williams or Matt Milano. They are also reportedly actively pursuing J.J. Watt, which that move alone would require some serious roster management.

In addition, he is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career with only 335 receiving yards and one touchdown. However, the fact that he was dealing with an ankle injury, that forced him to miss five games, and playing in an offense that struggled all year could have been contributing factors.

At the end of the day, it is too much of a gamble adding Ertz at his salary in his trade. If he were to be released, the Buffalo Bills make sense but when considering the other moves they need to make, the cap space can be used better elsewhere.