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Buffalo Bills 2019 Roster Outlook: The tight ends

By Stephen McCarthy

BUFFALO, NY - OCTOBER 29: Jason Croom #80 of the Buffalo Bills cannot hold on to the ball as he drops a touchdown pass in the end zone during NFL game action against the New England Patriots at New Era Field on October 29, 2018 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
BUFFALO, NY - OCTOBER 29: Jason Croom #80 of the Buffalo Bills cannot hold on to the ball as he drops a touchdown pass in the end zone during NFL game action against the New England Patriots at New Era Field on October 29, 2018 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /

Draft a tight end if not two

The 2019 NFL Draft is developing to be an elite tight end draft class. While there may not be the next superstar household name like Rob Gronkowski, there is both high-end talent and an extremely deep talent pool at the position.

Buffalo needs to plan on drafting at least one tight end to bolster the position and reload in what could be a special class.

Names like Noah Fant (Iowa), Irv Smith Jr. (Alabama), Caleb Wilson (UCLA), TJ Hockenson (Iowa), Kaden Smith (Stanford), Dawson Knox (Ole Miss), Isaac Nauta (Georgia) and numerous others are all difference makers at the next level and are just a few of the names that will be available in the draft.

While Fant, Wilson, Smith Jr. and a few others may be selected in the first round, some of the best tight ends in the league have gone outside of the first.

Rob Gronkowski (second), Travis Kelce (third), Zach Ertz (third) and Jimmy Graham (third) were all picks outside of the first round and have all had incredible NFL careers to this point. Buffalo has bigger needs than tight end and unless they end up trading back or with multiple firsts, they shouldn’t look at tight end in the first. They should, however, begin to look at bringing in a new weapon on the offense in the second, third or fourth rounds.

With so much depth in this tight end class, I wouldn’t select one until the third round because of the value. With it being such a deep class, you can draft a player with comparable talent in the third round as you would in the second.

I can imagine Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott targeting any tight end that has a similar skill set to Greg Olsen from the Carolina Panthers. Not only is Olsen one of the better receiving options at the position in the league, he is a very good blocker as well.

Getting a player that is a complete tight end is probably something that appeals to McBeane because of their desire to help Josh Allen in the passing game, but also help re-establish the run game once again.

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