Brandon Beane didn’t wait long to say what he wanted from Dalton Kincaid this year. On the day the Buffalo Bills introduced Joe Brady as head coach in January, the general manager said he had studied the offense with and without his tight end. Three games into Brady’s first season in charge, the plan looks a lot like the one Beane described.
“I did a little study of when Dalton was on the field,” Beane said, according to Bills on SI. “We averaged seven more points going into the playoffs with Dalton on the field than without him.” Beane called Kincaid a mismatch and said the Bills had to keep him healthy.
How Joe Brady is using Dalton Kincaid
The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue listed Buffalo among the teams whose offseason plans are working in her new NFL Team Utility Tiers, noting Beane wanted the scheme to get more from its tight ends, Kincaid especially. She wrote that Brady has put him in-line, in the slot and as a “move” player, tying the running game to the passing game and creating mismatches against safeties. The Bills rank No. 2 in offensive EPA per play, according to the TruMedia numbers she cited.
Kincaid has 14 catches on 17 targets for 263 yards and a touchdown, per Pro Football Reference, and leads all tight ends in receiving yards. PFF gives him an 86.4 overall grade, third among 34 qualified players at the position. He had 571 yards in 12 games last season.
Most of that came early. Kincaid caught five passes for a career-high 130 yards in the 36-31 win over the Texans, the most by a Bills tight end since 1967, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. He added seven catches for 95 yards and a touchdown against the Lions four days later. “When he’s on the field we’re a better team and we’re a better offense,” Brady said after the opener. “He’s so dynamic.”
Week 3 was quieter. Kincaid had two catches for 38 yards and a fumble in the 24-16 win over the Chargers. Buffalo also traded for receiver D.J. Moore to help Josh Allen, but Kincaid has been the story of the passing game so far. The 3-0 Bills, who top this week’s power rankings, host the Patriots at 1 p.m. ET Sunday.
