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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPN
BUFFALO, N.Y. — At pick No. 20 in April’s NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks took the first wide receiver off the board with Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
One of the Buffalo Bills’ tasks coming into the draft was figuring out where the run on pass-catchers would start. The fact it wasn’t until the second half of the first day benefited the Bills, whose first pick wasn’t slated to be until No. 27. Three more wide receivers were chosen after Smith-Njigba, making it the first time in the common draft era there were four straight wide receivers picked in Round 1.
Bills GM Brandon Beane said after the draft was over that he had come into the event “hoping on offense that we would add a weapon. I really was.”
Beane got his wish accomplished early when the Bills traded up two spots to take Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid at No. 25.
It’s no secret the Bills offense struggled in the middle of the field last season. Quarterback Josh Allen finished with his lowest completion percentage on passes thrown between the hashes since 2019 (68.5%). In the end, the Bills added a playmaker to their passing game and gave Allen some help.
“We were looking for guys to add to our skill positions that can be matchups and whether it’s receiver, tight end, whatever it is, just a guy, another weapon to, ‘Hey, you can’t double [wide receiver Stefon Diggs] every play,'” Beane said on Day 3 of the draft. “Like if you do, we’re expecting this guy to win his one-on-one matchup or [receiver] Gabe [Davis] to win his one-on-one matchup.”
Beane said phone calls were coming in for the Bills’ pick at No. 27. “You ask me five picks before we picked, I still would have told you we were going to trade down,” Beane said on Day 1 of the draft. “I thought [Kincaid] was going to get taken.”
The Bills sat one pick ahead of the Dallas Cowboys, who also needed a tight end after Dalton Schultz left via free agency. A potential trade with Giants general manager (and former Bills assistant GM) Joe Schoen fell through.
The Giants traded up for Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks and gave pick No. 25 to the Jaguars. Jacksonville general manager Trent Baalke needed convincing the Bills weren’t going to take the player they wanted — Oklahoma tackle Anton Harrison — as Beane detailed on the Green Light podcast. After Beane shared that he was going to take a tight end, the Jaguars struck a deal.
Beane elected to trade up two spots for a second straight year, giving up a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars in the process. The Bills also signed tight end Dawson Knox to a four-year extension last year for $53.6 million and $31 million guaranteed. But the team plans to use the two tight ends in different roles, with Kincaid lining up more like a wide receiver, including a big slot receiver. During Kincaid’s time at Utah, he lined up all over the formation.
“If Dalton was not there, we would have traded back,” Beane said, “… We just really liked him and just felt he would be a great fit in our offense. He is a tight end, but he is a receiving tight end. We think he’ll pair well with Dawson and give us another target in the middle of the field. So, yeah, when him and Dawson are in the game, you’re in ’12’ [personnel], but it’s quasi like ’11’ anyway. He’s not your standard ‘Y’ tight end. He’s going to be flexed out a lot more than necessarily you would do with Dawson.”
Why did the Bills struggle in the middle of the field in 2022? Slot receiver Jamison Crowder suffering a broken left ankle in Week 4 against the Ravens didn’t help.
Isaiah McKenzie, who is now with the Colts after being released by Buffalo, led the team in receptions from the slot (38) in 2022 but had six drops and never fully took over the role. The Bills tried to bring in a temporary reinforcement with Cole Beasley. Last offseason the Bills tried to add a complement Knox by signing O.J. Howard to a one-year deal, but he was cut before the season began.
At Utah, Kincaid lined up in the slot on 345 of his 592 routes. He caught 77.2% of passes from the slot with four drops, and averaged over 15 yards per reception, including 4.56 yards after catch per reception. Beane noted how Kincaid elevated his game as the 2022 season went on with his performance against USC standing out. In the game, he had 16 catches with 12 coming in the slot for 196 yards and eight first downs.
“I think [my skill set] is just the versatility, again, lining in-line, flex, in the wing, in the slot,” Kincaid said. “I feel like it is difficult to game-plan and just for teams to, at least in college, struggling to figure out what personnel to match up, who to put on who.”
“Elite hands” were the first words Beane used to describe which of Kincaid’s skill sets the Bills liked. In 2022, Kincaid had a 3.1% drop percentage with three drops compared with 70 receptions. Beane also listed Kincaid’s route running and ability to get separation at the top of routes.
The Bills invested in the offense with four of the team’s six picks, selecting guard O’Cyrus Torrence in the second round, wide receiver Justin Shorter in the fifth and guard Nick Broeker in the seventh.
“We’ve just tried to look for different things, different pieces to use so that [offensive coordinator Ken] Dorsey and the offensive staff can come out and kind of be in multiple formations, multiple looks, different game plans. This week we need to air it out, this week we need to run it a little bit more,” Beane said on the Saturday the draft concluded.