diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-eth.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-eth.c
index 6383d9805dac..b58162ce81d8 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-eth.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-eth.c
@@ -1043,14 +1043,12 @@ static int dpaa2_eth_build_single_fd(struct dpaa2_eth_priv *priv,
 	dma_addr_t addr;
 
 	buffer_start = skb->data - dpaa2_eth_needed_headroom(skb);
-
-	/* If there's enough room to align the FD address, do it.
-	 * It will help hardware optimize accesses.
-	 */
 	aligned_start = PTR_ALIGN(buffer_start - DPAA2_ETH_TX_BUF_ALIGN,
 				  DPAA2_ETH_TX_BUF_ALIGN);
 	if (aligned_start >= skb->head)
 		buffer_start = aligned_start;
+	else
+		return -ENOMEM;
 
 	/* Store a backpointer to the skb at the beginning of the buffer
 	 * (in the private data area) such that we can release it
@@ -4738,6 +4736,8 @@ static int dpaa2_eth_probe(struct fsl_mc_device *dpni_dev)
 	if (err)
 		goto err_dl_port_add;
 
+	net_dev->needed_headroom = DPAA2_ETH_SWA_SIZE + DPAA2_ETH_TX_BUF_ALIGN;
+
 	err = register_netdev(net_dev);
 	if (err < 0) {
 		dev_err(dev, "register_netdev() failed\n");
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-eth.h b/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-eth.h
index 447718483ef4..e703846adc9f 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-eth.h
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/dpaa2/dpaa2-eth.h
@@ -702,7 +702,7 @@ static inline bool dpaa2_eth_rx_pause_enabled(u64 link_options)
 
 static inline unsigned int dpaa2_eth_needed_headroom(struct sk_buff *skb)
 {
-	unsigned int headroom = DPAA2_ETH_SWA_SIZE;
+	unsigned int headroom = DPAA2_ETH_SWA_SIZE + DPAA2_ETH_TX_BUF_ALIGN;
 
 	/* If we don't have an skb (e.g. XDP buffer), we only need space for
 	 * the software annotation area