Buffalo Bills: 4 ways to address the absence of Dawson Knox

Buffalo Bills keep the offense the same, replace Dawson Knox with Tommy Sweeney

Dawson Knox was in the midst of a breakout season with 21 receptions on 27 targets, 243 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns. One of the reasons, is due to the fact that the Bills have looked to have the tight end more involved this season.

Through the first six games, Knox has been on the field for 74% of the offensive snaps. This is a significant increase over the first two years when he played 64% and 58% of the offensive snaps in 2019 and 2020.

The straight forward answer to address replacing Knox would be to slide Tommy Sweeney in as the starting tight end and keep the offense the same. Sweeney was a seventh round pick by the Bills the same year as Dawson Knox and during his rookie season showed some flashes.

Sweeney hasn’t had much playing time over the past two years though after missing all of last season after starting the year on the PUP list. Then around the time he was set to return, he tested positive for COVID-19 and developed myocarditis that forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

This season he has played about 15% of the offensive snaps and has four receptions on four targets for four yards and one touchdown. He isn’t as athletic as Knox so even if this is the route they go, the play calling will likely need to be changed up.