Given the amount of money tied up in the position, there isn’t much to change moving forward
The Buffalo Bills rely heavily on their tight ends. With offensive coordinator Joe Brady, the team uses heavy packages often. Not only did they have two tight ends play over 40% of the offensive snaps, but they also had a sixth offensive lineman play on over 20% of the team’s snaps. Between a commitment to running the ball and the thought that their tight ends are versatile enough to run routes outside and in the slot, the Bills give them a lot of responsibility.
For all that responsibility, though, there wasn’t much statistical production to back up the coaching staff’s faith in their ability. None of the team’s tight ends topped 45 receptions, none of the team’s tight ends went for more than 450 receiving yards, and none of the team’s tight ends went for more than two scores, either. The team totaled 72 tight end receptions overall, so they were able to do some damage in the aggregate, but none of the individual players looked much like game-breakers throughout the year.
In today’s look at the state of the Buffalo Bills roster, we discuss the tight end group.
Zach Davidson
Contract Status for 2025: Signed two-year reserve/future contract worth $2.042 million in total ($963,500 cap hit; $7,000 dead cap if released; .35% of total team cap)
Age: 26 (27 on 7/15/2025)
Playing Time: 2 games, 26 special teams snaps (5.83% of team total), 42 offensive snaps (3.86% of team total)
Key Statistics: 2 targets, 1 reception, 5 yards
Davidson is a big, athletic prospect who really isn’t much of a prospect anymore. Closing in on 27 years old, Davidson is what he is — a player who isn’t likely to make the roster, but knows the system well enough to fill in when needed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bills kept him around on their practice squad once again this season.
Dalton Kincaid
Contract Status for 2025: Signed; third year of four-year rookie contract w/fifth-year option worth $13,427,023 in total ($3,661,915 cap hit; $7,934,149 dead cap hit if released; 1.33% of team total)
Age: 25 (26 on 10/18/2025)
Playing Time: 13 games (9 starts), 471 offensive snaps (43.29% of team total), 3 special teams snaps (.67% of team total)
Key Statistics: 75 targets, 44 receptions, 448 yards, 2 TDs, 1 fumble
I’d be lying if I said that Kincaid’s second pro season wasn’t a massive disappointment. After setting a Bills record for receptions by a rookie (73), which is also the team record for receptions by a tight end regardless of service time, Kincaid was out-snapped by his backup and caught far fewer balls than he did the year prior. Granted, some of that is because he missed four games due to a knee injury, an issue he dealt with for the rest of the season, but even prior to the injury, Kincaid wasn’t a huge part of the offense. Before suffering a PCL sprain in Week 10 against the Indianapolis Colts, Kincaid had 34 catches, 356 yards, and 2 touchdowns. That’s an average of 3 catches and 36 yards per game, not exactly WR2 numbers like we thought we’d see him reach after a strong rookie year. Both Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane talked about the need for Kincaid to add strength in the offseason, which is mildly concerning given that they’re not typically that critical of a player in public (it’s not what they said, but how they said it) and one would assume that’s something that would already have been identified as an area of need prior to the season. My biggest fear about Kincaid is that he was drafted for an offense that the Bills no longer run, as offensive coordinator Joe Brady uses his tight ends in a far different way than former offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey did. Can Kincaid put this subpar season behind him and become the dominant force the Bills imagined him to be when they made him the No. 25 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft?
Dawson Knox
Contract Status for 2025: Signed; second year of three-year extension worth $29.5 million in total ($14.568 million cap hit; $16.972 million dead cap hit if released; 5.3% of total team cap)
Age: 28 (29 on 11/14/2025)
Playing Time: 16 games (13 starts), 618 offensive snaps (56.8% of team total), 4 special teams snaps (.9% of team total)
Key Statistics: 33 targets, 22 receptions, 311 yards, 1 TD
Josh Allen’s longest-tenured pass-catcher has developed nicely over the course of his pro career. He’s not a top-flight player at the position, but he’s become a much better blocker and a much more reliable receiver since the Bills added him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Thanks to Kincaid’s knee injury, Knox also ended up playing more snaps than the 2023 first-rounder. As the better blocker—something I admittedly never thought I’d say about Knox after watching him struggle to block early in his career—he also was used more often when Kincaid returned than I’d have expected. The Bills can cut Knox’s cap hit down to around $8 million with a salary conversion and some void years, but that kicks the can down the line in a way that the team may not be comfortable with moving forward. Knox is a nice player, but Knox’s contract is an issue given the presence of Kincaid on the roster. Still, $4.5 million of his salary is guaranteed, so he’ll be back.
Quintin Morris
Contract Status for 2025: Unsigned; RFA
Age: 26 (27 on 1/21/2026)
Playing Time: 16 games (3 starts), 324 special teams snaps (72.65% of team total), 214 offensive snaps (19.67% of team total)
Key Statistics: 8 targets, 5 receptions, 36 yards, 1 TD, 4 tackles
As a restricted free agent, the Bills need only to tender Morris a contract in order to have right-of-first-refusal for retaining his services. Morris was an undrafted free agent, so the original-round contract tender offer would be $3.185 million, according to Over the Cap. The Bills would be certifiably insane to offer that contract to Morris, who is a nice player as a third-string tight end, but he’s still a third-string tight end. Expect the Bills to non-tender him and try to negotiate a contract at a lower annual cap hit, likely over two years near the veteran’s minimum for his service time, to keep him with the club.
The Bills are in an interesting place here. They need more production from their tight ends, especially Kincaid. They aren’t trying to deny that, and even if they were, it’s obvious. They also don’t have much financial flexibility here, as they’re already paying their backup tight end a top-15 contract at the position, and their starting tight end was a first-round draft choice. Those guys are going to take most of the snaps, because if they don’t, then it’s a massive failure by the organization in terms of talent identification.
So, the Bills have two options. They can either search for overlooked talent at the bottom of the free-agent market, in the late rounds of the NFL Draft, or after the league’s annual selection show via the undrafted free agent market. Or, they can have faith in the continued development of their 2023 first-round pick while also knowing that their 2019 third-round choice can provide adequate play, as well.
Is “adequate” what we want, though? Is it what the Bills want? It sure doesn’t sound like it. The 2025 season is a huge one for Kincaid in particular, who needs to come out and establish himself as a top-flight, consistent option in the passing game. It would also help if he and quarterback Josh Allen could ensure that they are on the same page. According to Pro Football Focus, Allen’s off-target throw percentage when targeting Kincaid was a whopping 20% overall. It was just 10.8% when considering all of Allen’s throws on the season.
Is that off-target percentage the reason why Kincaid’s numbers were poor? Is the reason for the off-target throws something else, like a weakness in Kincaid’s route-running? Or was it a product of Allen just making poor throws in the direction of one receiver disproportionately over the others? Whatever it was, the two need to figure it out going into next season.
In short, Buffalo likely doesn’t want to make any moves here, and if they did, they’d be hard-pressed to make them given the financial and draft commitment already invested in the position. Next year, we need No. 86 to step up, and we need No. 17 to help him take that leap.