Bills free agency: What does Jacob Hollister's signing mean for offense?

They likely gave up on Eagles' trade demands for Zach Ertz by reuniting Josh Allen with his college teammate.

Although the Bills could still be interested in adding to the tight end position, their decision to sign Jacob Hollister on Friday almost certainly signaled the end of their pursuit of the Philadelphia Eagles' Zach Ertz, who holds the NFL's single-season reception record for that position.

The problem with acquiring Ertz was that the Bills likely weren't prepared to meet the Eagles' trade demands.

Instead, they brought in the less-accomplished but younger Hollister, who played with quarterback Josh Allen at Wyoming.

Hollister, 27, played mostly special teams with New England his first two seasons in the league. He became even more valuable as a special-teamer in Seattle over the previous two seasons. But he also was used with the offense more there, leading him to catch 66 passes for 558 yards and six TDs in 27 games (eight starts) for the Seahawks.

He had one of his better career games against the Bills last November, catching five passes for 60 yards in the Seahawks' 44-34 loss.

It's also important to know what Hollister settled for too: A one-year, $1.127 million contract, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, that's barely above the NFL's minimum wage.

Jacob Hollister one year, $1.127M, $137,500 signing bonus, $990K base salary

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 20, 2021

That's also less than the New York Jets just handed Tyler Kroft, a tight end the Bills allowed to leave in free agency.

Although Kroft was once a starter in this league who caught 42 passes for the Bengals in 2017, he's caught just 18 passes in 21 games over the previous two seasons for the Bills as he settled into more of a blocking role.

Kroft is one of the best blocking tight ends in the league, so even though the Bills may have upgraded their passing game at a lesser price, their run game could suffer because blocking is not exactly Hollister's strength.

A stronger running game for 2021 may be the Bills' top priority, so this switch certainly won't help with that. Neither would a subsequent addition of Ertz, who tries hard but just doesn't have it in him to block.

Nevertheless, the Bills are getting a good player who's already missed in Seattle, according to an Instagram post by quarterback Russell Wilson.

Besides, Dawson Knox is still there, and it's hard to see the Bills go with more than one tight end on the field for most plays because of the abilities and accomplishments of receivers Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley, Emmanuel Sanders and Isaiah McKenzie.

Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll will have a package of plays for "12" personnel. But as they're currently configured, the Bills will fool no one about being able to run out of that formation.

So you can bet they're not done with free agency and could be pointed toward taking a running back like Clemson's Travis Etienne in the NFL Draft.

More on Etienne and his fit for the Bills coming soon to Bills Central.

Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro.