Buffalo Bills: Matt Milano’s return even more important after Patriots moves

There was no question that the Buffalo Bills bringing back Matt Milano was a big deal for this defense. The starting linebacker has been a key part of this team alongside Tremaine Edmunds. It gives them one of the more athletic linebackers in the league that allows Sean McDermott to play more nickel.

However, the significance of his return just became an even bigger deal after recent moves by the New England Patriots. After a down year, Bill Belichick is focused on being part of the AFC East race and playoff discussion with numerous moves this week.

There are two moves in particular that Milano’s presence will be particularly important and that is the Patriots reportedly signing tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. These were two of the best tight ends on the market and it appears Belichick wants to return to an offensive scheme from early in the 2010s with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez on the field.

Both Henry and Smith are good pass catching tight ends with Henry catching 60 passes for 613 yards and four touchdowns last season and Smith having 41 receptions, 448 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Both tight ends also had good games against the Bills last year with Henry catching seven for 67 yards in Week 10. Meanwhile, Smith caught five passes for 40 yards and two touchdowns in Week 5.

However, both games had a common theme and that was Matt Milano missed them due to injury. The Bills defense struggled to cover tight ends without Milano last year and it was clear this was a weakness that teams were able to exploit.

While Milano won’t be able to cover both tight ends and the Buffalo Bills will need to find another player to help, like Siran Neal, having Matt Milano return to this defense will be a big boost to this defense in the matchups with the New England Patriots.