It came as a surprise to no one when Zach Ertz was traded away from the Eagles before the 2021 trade deadline. What may be surprising, however, is the team Ertz said nearly acquired him before he was traded to the Arizona Cardinals.
The veteran tight end recently revealed that the Bills tried to trade for him before that year's deadline. The deal, however, never came to fruition after it was nixed by a member of the Eagles' staff. He was ultimately shipped to Arizona in exchange for a fifth-round pick and cornerback Tay Gowan.
"There were a couple teams extremely interested, Buffalo being one of them," Ertz said, via the Buffalo News. "It was almost a done deal, but it just didn't get over the finish line."
Had Ertz been traded to Buffalo, the Bills would have acquired a three-time Pro Bowler who three years earlier had helped the Eagles defeat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. Ertz would have been a nice addition to an offense that already included quarterback Josh Allen, wideout Stefon Diggs and fellow tight end Dawson Knox.
Ertz surely would have been helpful against the Chiefs in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs. The Bills, after losing to the Chiefs in the prior year's AFC title game, fell to Kansas City again in 2022 in what was one of the wildest finishes to any game in NFL history.
Instead of going to Buffalo, Ertz went to the desert, where he helped the Cardinals clinch their first playoff berth in six years. Last season, Ertz, who signed a three-year extension with Arizona last offseason, caught 47 passes for 406 yards and four touchdowns during his first full season with the Cardinals before missing the season's last seven games with a knee injury.
More than a year after missing out on Ertz, the Bills addressed their tight end position in the 2023 NFL Draft. They used the 25th overall pick in the draft to select Dalton Kincaid, who caught 16 touchdowns during his final two seasons at Utah.
