Bills move ahead of Cowboys to land top tight end

The presence of Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid among the available players as the Buffalo Bills’ late first-round selection approached was enough to convince general manager Brandon Beane to switch gears.

Rather than trading back in the order or out of the first round entirely, Beane moved up two spots to select Kincaid with the 25th pick in the NFL draft Thursday night.

“Well, I lied. We traded up,” Beane said with a laugh in reflecting back to last week, when he said the odds were better he’d trade back. “Well, I didn’t lie. I just didn’t know he’d be there.”

The Bills traded the 27th selection and their fourth-round pick, 130th overall, in a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars and made Kincaid the first tight end selected. Beane said he had “a good feeling ” Dallas, picking 26th, was going to select Kincaid.

Listed at six-foot-four and 246 pounds, Kincaid was Utah’s top receiving threat and finished with 70 catches for 890 yards and eight touchdowns in 12 games last season. He was a semifinalist for the John Mackey Award and earned third-team all-American honours.

The pre-draft book on Kincaid describes him as an agile athlete with excellent body control, good hands and quick feet to avoid tacklers. He needs to refine his routes and gain strength.

He spent three seasons at Utah after playing his first two seasons at San Diego.

While the Bills have an established tight end in Dawson Knox, they filled a pass-catching need for their Josh Allen-led passing attack. Among Buffalo’s more pressing needs was receiver with Gabe Davis entering the final year of his contract and coming off an inconsistent season while starting opposite Stefon Diggs.

The chances of the Bills filling that need ended with receivers being taken with four straight selections. The run began with Seattle picking Jaxon Smith-Njigba at No. 20, followed by the Chargers drafting Quentin Johnston, Baltimore selecting Zay Flowers and Minnesota taking Jordan Addison.

“It’s not like we had to do it tonight, but we felt strongly about Dalton and his skill set, and what he can do in this offence,” Beane said. “Any time you can add a weapon for your quarterback and your offence, you don’t pass that up unless there’s just someone clearly better.”

Kincaid began attracting attention as his production increased through last season. He topped 100 yards receiving three times, including a 16-catch, 234-yard and outing in 43-42 win over Southern California on Oct. 15.