Why the Bills trading for Zach Ertz isn't the no-brainer it seems to be

Buffalo trading for Zach Ertz makes a lot of sense on paper ... but not on the field.

If Zach Ertz is eventually traded to the Buffalo Bills, it might go down as one of the more telegraphed moves in recent NFL history.

The Eagles haven’t hidden that they’ve been shopping the former Pro Bowler for the better part of a year now and the Bills, a team presumably in We Can Win a Super Bowl and Should Try to Do That No Matter the Cost mode, do not have a starting-caliber tight end on the roster. For good reason, just about every media outlet has floated the idea of an Ertz-to-Buffalo trade.

Now that the Bills have re-worked Stefon Diggs’ deal, creating $7.8 million in cap space per ESPN’s Field Yates, and we’ve passed the all-important June 1 deadline, which makes trading Ertz easier for the Eagles, it seems like only a matter of time before a deal gets done.

Now the important question: Does trading for Ertz make the Bills a meaningfully better football team?

Given the massive hole on the roster at tight end — depending on your feelings about Dawson Knox, Tommy Sweeney and Jacob Hollister — the obvious answer would seem to be “yes.” But, based on the headline of this article, you probably already know it won’t be coming to that conclusion. So enough with formalities, let me explain why it’s not the no-brainer fit it might seem to be on paper.