Bills go tight end in round one, trade up for Dalton Kincaid

With all of the best WR talent off the board already, the Bills made a move to jump up two picks and select tight end Dalton Kincaid at pick 25 on Thursday, which was a surprise to many.

The 23-year-old from Utah was projected as the best TE in the draft due to his pass catching ability. Breaking down his film, he has a lot of similarities to Travis Kelce (not to jump the gun). That’s the idea that the Bills had when they selected him: grab another big target with solid hands for Josh Allen. I think this was a great move.

The 2022 first-team All-Pac-12 selection caught 70 passes for 890 yards (12.7 ypc) and 8 TDs, giving him third-team All-American honors.

In his scouting profile of Kincaid, NFL.com Draft analyst Lance Zierlein said Kincaid is a “premium talent as a pass-catcher . . . a fluid route runner with the athleticism and play speed to create mismatches against lesser coverage. Impeccable ball skills and sticky hands allow him to tilt fifty-fifty contested throws in his favor.”

Sounds to me that is exactly what the Buffalo Bills needed and wanted to find in this draft. The majority of the gripes against him are on his blocking abilities, but with Dawson Knox signed over the next three years, we are not going to see Kincaid blocking very much.

I’m sure many of you are asking yourselves why the Bills went TE when they just signed Dawson Knox to a deal. Well, these two players are not really the same. While Kincaid is listed as a TE, he is going to be treated and placed as more of a slot WR — a big guy with great hands. He and Knox won’t have the same role in the offense most of the time.

However, with two terrific tight ends on the team, we should see more two-TE sets on offense. It will be Ken Dorsey’s job to get creative and find mismatches to utilize Kincaid’s strengths.

Speaking of Kincaid’s strengths, they were listed by Zierlein as:

-Fluid athlete with impressive catch radius.
-Gets into routes with good initial burst.
-Has enough speed to threaten vertically and across the field.
-Possesses outstanding ball-tracking and focus as receiver.
-Makes well-timed moves for jump-ball victories.
-Sweet feet to break and separate from coverage.
-Hands are sticky and sure through contact.
-Above average run-and-catch fluidity on the move.

Sign me up for all of that. The Bills got one of the best pass catchers available in the draft, a big target and a guy that can win on 50/50 balls. Add him to the list of Diggs, Davis, Shakir, Knox, Cook, Harty and Sherfield and the Bills have a pretty well-rounded group of playmakers on offense early in the offseason.