ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — What the Buffalo Bills did to make a pass-catching tight end, Utah’s Dalton Kincaid, their first-round pick Thursday night smacks of a bit of desperation.
They traded with the Jacksonville Jaguars to move up from pick No. 27 to No. 25 to select him.
The first question is, did they even need to make that deal, which cost them a fourth-round pick? They moved ahead of the Dallas Cowboys, presumably on the assumption the Cowboys were going to grab the 6-foot-3, 246-pound Kincaid. The Cowboys wound up using the No. 26 choice on Michigan defensive tackle Mazi Smith.
It was reasonable to think the Bills also would prioritize defensive help in the first round, considering their defense has consistently failed them in the postseason, or perhaps get an offensive lineman to help shore up Josh Allen’s shaky pass protection.
The next five picks after Smith were Oklahoma offensive tackle Anton Harrison to Jacksonville, Clemson defensive end Myles Murphy to Cincinnati, Clemson defensive tackle Bryan Bresee to New Orleans, Georgia outside linebacker Nolan Smith to Philadelphia, and Kansas State defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah to Kansas City.
Kincaid’s performance will be judged in a variety of ways, not the least of which will be against the production of the four defensive linemen chosen after him, especially if the Bills' D fails them again.
General Manager Brandon Beane had said before the draft he has a tendency to get “antsy” while waiting to make a selection. Was that the case here, especially with wide receivers being taken with four of the previous five picks?
Beane said Kincaid, who didn’t work out at the NFL Scouting Combine or Utah’s Pro Day because of a back injury, was the best available player and that the Bills were confident the Cowboys would choose him. If Kincaid had been taken sooner, the GM said he would have looked to trade out of the first round.
Given that explanation, it was clear that Beane believes the Bills’ best hope for finally getting over the hump and into the Super Bowl next season is by enhancing the explosiveness of their offense. It's hard to see it any other way considering that tight cap space forced them to lean more heavily on the draft than free agency this offseason.
That leads to the second question: Do the Bills actually need a tight end? They have Dawson Knox and gave him a lucrative contract extension last September. Knox would figure to remain the Bills’ No. 1 tight end, while Kincaid will probably receive significantly fewer snaps.
Still, Beane raved that Kincaid has “elite hands” and “has a good feel for setting up (defenders) inside” to get open. The GM also described him as a “great route runner.”
“We think he’ll pair well with Dawson and give us another target in the middle of the field,” Beane said.
Last season, Kincaid led the Utes with 70 receptions for 890 yards (which also led the FBS) and eight touchdowns.
The production is impressive, but is it something the Bills absolutely had to get in the first round? The guess here is that they could have, at the very least, let Kincaid fall to them at No. 27 and, at the very most, taken at defensive player at No. 27 and sought offensive help in the second or third round.