Pro Football Focus is working their way through each position group and ranking the Top 32 players at those positions. The tight end position has been a problem for the Buffalo Bills and Pro Football Focus seems to agree by not having Dawson Knox ranked in the Top 32 at the position.
Knox was a third round pick by the Buffalo Bills in 2019 and over the past two seasons hasn’t made the impact many thought he might be able to have. When the Bills drafted him he was viewed as a player who has all the physical tools but needed more development.
That development has been slow as he had 28 receptions and 388 receiving yards with two touchdowns as a rookie. Then this past season he saw his receptions and receiving yards drop to 24 receptions and 288 receiving yards but did see touchdowns go up one to a total of three.
Another area he improved from his rookie season to last year was in drop rate. As a rookie it was 20% but dropped to 9.1% last year.
However, these improvements weren’t enough for him to earn a spot among the Top 32 players at tight end entering the 2021 season. The Buffalo Bills were completely shut out while there were five teams who had multiple players make that list.
At the top was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had three tight ends earn spots on this list with Rob Gronkowski highest at ninth, followed by O.J. Howard at 23rd overall and then Cameron Brate earned the final spot at 32nd.
There were then four teams with two players and that group included the New England Patriots, New York Giants, Indianapolis Colts, and Atlanta Falcons. This is important to mention as three of those teams the Buffalo Bills play this year.
Last year, the Bills defense struggled to cover tight ends but hopefully, a full season with Matt Milano can help eliminate this weakness.