In the days and weeks leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft, Bills fans were yelling for general manager Brandon Beane to get Josh Allen some help in terms of getting him more offensive weapons. When Beane selected Kincaid, there were a lot of fans who were not pleased with the pick. When they said they wanted more weapons, they meant a wide receiver. But to everyone's excitement, Kincaid has definitely become a legitimate weapon in the Bills offense.
There is no denying the talent that we are witnessing. Kincaid's stardom is rising in a league that is more and more looking to the tight end position to create mismatches and be a legitimate weapon for quarterbacks. He's been targeted 45 times through the first nine games of the season, with 26 of those over the last three weeks, and has turned those into 40 receptions. He may well have the single greatest season of any tight end in Buffalo history when it's all said and done this year....and it's only his first year in the league.
Dalton Kincaid needs 29 receptions over the #Bills’ final eight games to set the team’s all-time record for most receptions by a TE in a season.
— Ryan Talbot (@RyanTalbotBills) November 6, 2023
Pete Metzelaars finished with 68 receptions in 1993. Twenty-nine receptions would put Kincaid at 69. A pretty nice record is…
The yardage numbers and touchdowns aren't there yet but those will come. He just got his first career touchdown two weeks ago against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has 339 total receiving yards on the season, for an average of 8.5 yards per reception. I would like to see the Bills use him a little more to stretch the field and attack the defense down the seams, but the underneath routes help Josh Allen to quickly get rid of the ball if necessary.
Kincaid is currently fourth among AFC tight ends and seventh in the league with his 40 receptions but what is more impressive is his catch rate of 88.9 percent, which ranks him fourth overall in the NFL and number one for tight ends. Kincaid is the type of player that an offense can operate through, similar to how the Kansas City Chiefs offense runs through Travis Kelce.
Kincaid is on pace for 640 yards receiving, which would put him third all-time for a single season and only 15 yards behind number two, Scott Chandler in 2013. The most yards in a season by a Bills tight end is Paul Costa from 1967, when he totaled 726 yards in a 14-game season, averaging 51.9 yards per game. It's also not crazy to think that Kincaid might set the Bills record for yards too. He would need to average 49 yards per game over the final eight games and this is more than a possibility. The one thing that could prevent that is the return of Dawson Knox. What the Bills decide to do at that point, will be very interesting.