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If Super Bowl things are going to fall into place for the Buffalo Bills, they likely need to get the contract settled with James Cook and have Joey Bosa remain healthy. However, here is one surprising player who could make or break the Bills’ 2025 NFL season.
The Bills have a couple of players who could greatly impact the 2025 season. Included in that mix are Bosa and wide receiver Keon Coleman. However, it is Dalton Kincaid who gets the surprise nod as the most crucial player for the upcoming campaign.
It’s pretty clear, Kincaid’s progress is high on the Bills’ wish list, according to nytimes.com.
“There are three major factors for Kincaid getting that distinction,” Joe Buscaglia wrote. “The first is that the team staunchly believes in his talent. And that they’ve seen what he can do with a heightened role during an albeit small sample size during his rookie season.
“Second, there isn’t a compelling case for anyone else on offense to see their role increase as pronounced as what it could be for Kincaid based on his playing time late last season. Third, there are nuanced pieces of the puzzle that could influence Kincaid’s role and overall impact on the Bills in 2025, as he has the talent level to become one of the best offensive skill players on the roster.”
That’s a handful of important stuff. So, how does he count as a surprise if he’s that important? Simply because he hasn’t done it before. He caught 73 passes for 673 yards as a rookie in 2023, but scored only twice. Last year, in only nine starts, he totaled 44 catches for 448 yards with, again, two scores.
Those numbers don’t suggest a key player. But with the Bills’ wide receiver room being shallow and fairly unimpressive, somebody needs to step up. The Bills rank No. 19 among receiving groups, according to Pro Football Focus.
“The Bills put forth a diverse passing attack in 2024, with eight players seeing more than 30 targets,” Trevor Sikkema wrote. “Khalil Shakir not only led them in targets but also in PFF receiving grade (80.1). Second-year wideout Keon Coleman could be in for a massive season after earning just a 68.8 PFF receiving grade as a rookie.”
Interestingly, Kincaid received mention in the article as a guy who can lift the group.
“Meanwhile, Dalton Kincaid cracked the top 10 of PFF’s tight end rankings with the ninth-best PFF WAR figure at the position over the past two seasons,” Sikkema wrote.
There is talk of Kincaid becoming Allen’s top option this season, according to Niagara Gazette via yahoo.com.
“Dalton was really more of an injury thing that he fought through and nothing more than that,” Bills GM Brandon Beane said. “I felt like maybe I even probably was a little bit overcritical. I wasn’t trying to do that. Probably could have done a better job of saying that. They’re going to be...
