It was reported Tuesday night that the Falcons had acquired veteran tight end Lee Smith from the Buffalo Bills for a late-round pick, but Atlanta wasn’t able to confirm the move until Wednesday afternoon when the new league year began.
Now that the deadline has passed, the team officially announced the trade over Twitter.
TRADE: We have acquired TE Lee Smith from the Buffalo Bills.
Welcome to Atlanta, @LeeSmith!
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) March 17, 2021
Atlanta gave up a 2022 seventh-round pick for the 33-year-old tight end. At 6-foot-6, 265 pounds, Smith has primarily been used as a blocker over his 10 NFL seasons. In 133 career games, he has 64 catches for 458 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.
Smith began his career in Buffalo, spending four years there before signing with the Oakland Raiders in 2015. After four seasons in the silver and black, he’d return to the Bills in 2019 and play two more seasons.
Buffalo was likely going to release Smith but Atlanta was willing to pay a small price to acquire his services in order to add some depth to one of the NFL’s thinnest rosters. The Falcons re-signed TE Jaeden Graham last week, and have Hayden Hurst under contract for at least one more season.
According to OverTheCap’s projections, Smith’s $2.25 million salary leaves the Falcons with $2.1 million in cap space.
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