PFF: Eagles TE Zach Ertz trade to Bills ‘makes sense’
Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane made reference to improving his roster at the tight end position this offseason. Could that come via the Eagles’ Zach Ertz?
Pro Football Focus thinks it “makes sense.”
The football analytics outlet pegged 10 offseason trades that they believe would do just that… make sense. The Bills landed the Philadelphia tight end in this list and the price tag was a sixth-round pick.
Here’s the PFF breakdown:
Eagles Cap Implications: $7.77 million in dead money, $4.702 million in cap savings
Bills Cap Implications: One-year, $8.25 million, $0 in total guarantees
The trade compensation here is more about keeping Ertz off another team than it is a representation of his current market value, as the Eagles may have no choice but to cut him without a trade. While Ertz was once a target machine in Philadelphia, he’s now on the wrong side of 30 at tight end and missed a large portion of the 2020 season due to injury. Even when healthy, he didn’t look like the dynamic receiving tight end of past years, though the bumps and bruises certainly may have played a role.
We saw with tight end Rob Gronkowski that when the ability to separate in the receiving game starts to fade, strong blocking can make up for it. But Ertz as your prototypical “U” or “move” tight end offers very little in that respect. All of that said, there is no reason to believe he can’t have a few more productive seasons, especially when he’s not operating as the No. 1 target like he was in Philadelphia.
With Stefon Diggs, John Brown and Gabriel Davis potentially working ahead of Ertz in terms of target share, he could provide a perfect safety blanket for Josh Allen while serving as a good mentor to 2019 third-round pick Dawson Knox.
In 2020, the Bills offense broke out. Knox clearly did not as some expected he would. Instead, the tight end position became an afterthought. Was that Knox? Or was that because Bills quarterback Josh Allen didn’t look their way?
One way of finding out the answer to that certainly would be acquiring Ertz. The bar is not very high, but he’d likely be their best playmaker at the position in team history because such talents at tight end are hard to find. There’s only so many Travis Kelce’s or Gronk’s out there.
For the Bills specifically, they could trade for Ertz, but due to a couple of down years since his Super Bowl season in Philly, and injury concerns, the cut route would be easier for Buffalo. Wait until he’s a free agent and hopefully get him on a lesser cap hit against a tight salary cap in 2021.
But again, this is pure speculation here. Ertz, 30, is still an Eagles player as of now.
