Kincaid ‘trending toward an enhanced role in 2026'

Kincaid truly did it all in this one, routinely in the middle of the blocking scrum on long James Cook runs in addition to his work through the air. His 95 yards handily paced the team, with his first touchdown of the young season coming from 16 yards out near the end of the second quarter. Kincaid remains one of the most efficient pass-catchers in the league on a per-route basis and has worked his way into the upper echelon of fantasy assets at the position. He remains a locked-in TE1 when the Bills host the Jets in Week 3.

Kincaid, according to Fowler, “could be the real key to elevating Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense this season.” Fowler added “multiple people with the team told me Kincaid is healthier than he was this time last year and is on no snap restrictions.” This is further confirmation that Kincaid won’t see the highly restrictive usage of the Sean McDermott era in Buffalo. Head coach Joe Brady is keen on using Kincaid both as an intermediate threat and a downfield option. Kincaid in Week 1 against the Texans led all tight ends in air yards (94) and ran a route on nearly 70 percent of the Bills’ drop backs. He could be an elite every-week option going forward.

Kincaid was the recipient of many of Josh Allen’s biggest throws of the game, including a 35-yarder to put him over 100 yards on Buffalo’s final non-kneeldown drive. Kincaid played 42-of-57 snaps, a 73 percent rate he never came close to hitting in any game last year. It sure seems like there’s no reason for the Bills to not target him if he can stay healthy; so it will be hard to not recommend him as a TE1 against the Lions on TNF.

The most efficient tight end in the NFL over the past two seasons, Kincaid ran a pass route on a meager 45 percent of Buffalo’s drop backs over 12 games in 2025, finishing the season with 49 targets while being targeted on a hefty 28 percent of his routes. Finally healthy, Kincaid has been talked up by Bills coaches over the past few months. Bills players and beat writers have even complimented Kincaid’s blocking, a point of concern for the fourth-year tight end. Buscaglia said if Kincaid can “be just competent enough in blocking to preserve the threat of play action when he’s on the field and continue to crush receiving efficiency metrics, he’ll become one of the most important pieces to the roster.” Kincaid is a high upside swing late in drafts for those who fade the game’s top tight ends.

Earlier this offseason, doctors reportedly advised against surgically repairing the PCL tear Kincaid suffered back in 2024. Instead, Kincaid was told to focus on “setting a good foundation for strength around the knee to support it.” Kincaid believes his failure to properly prepare his body for NFL rigors, and his uneasy feelings about the knee, led to compensatory hamstring issues in 2025, but Kincaid’s new preparations have drawn compliments from Bills coach Joe Brady and QB Josh Allen. Regarding potential load management in-season, Kincaid thinks he and the team can see how his participation this spring and summer goes, rather than preemptively assuming he needs a snap count. Kincaid warrants fringe TE1 treatment if the team keeps him in a limited role. If he can prove his health has turned a corner this summer, he could inch his way up into the mid-TE1 tier.

Kincaid has declined to have a torn PCL surgically repaired since 2024. “There’s a lot of things that he is pushing through that you guys might not see, and I think some of it is just learning how to play with certain elements of some movements that might not feel great, and he’s had to push through that,” Brady said. Both GM Brandon Beane and Brady alluded to having to manage Kincaid’s practice time in 2026 to keep him fresh for games and deal with pain tolerance issues. We’re not doctors, nor will we play one on Rotoworld dot com, but it sounds like we can expect to be doing a lot of blurbs about Kincaid on practice days again this year. It’s never a great sign for a player’s fantasy value when we start talking about them being limited in April, but Kincaid has a big enough role in Buffalo’s offense to be in the fringe TE1 discussion.

This move was expected all along, but speaking at the league meetings in Arizona, GM Brandon Beane confirmed that Kincaid’s option has been picked up. The former No. 25 overall pick caught 39 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns last season while appearing in 12 games, and has appeared in just 25 regular season games over the last two seasons due to a myriad of injuries. He will now be under contract through the 2027 season, but could be in line for an extension if he’s able to stay healthy in turn out a career-year this upcoming season. Kincaid has turned in eight top-12 fantasy finishes since 2024, and will enter this season as a boom-or-bust fantasy option at the position.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero confirmed the picks involved. Given that many believed Chicago would cut Moore this offseason, landing a second-round pick is a massive win for the Bears. With the additions of Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland, and Luther Burden, Moore had been slowly phased out of the Chicago passing game over the past two years. He caught just 50 passes for 682 yards during the regular season. Both marks were career-lows for the eight-year veteran. Moore’s effort and attitude were also pain points for the Bears, which new head coach Ben Johnson hinted at last offseason. Despite his declining numbers, Moore likely still has something left in the tank. The hope for Buffalo is that a change of scenery will revive Moore after a pair of down years. He is now the favorite to lead Buffalo in targets this year, with Khalil Shakir and Dalton Kincaid both working as secondary options.

Specifically, Beane said he does not “see any reason why we wouldn’t pick that up,” adding that the Bills’ mission is to help Kincaid stay healthy. We expect them to follow through, but this falls short of a firm commitment. Kincaid has been plagued by injuries during his three years in the NFL and told reporters earlier today that he does not plan to undergo surgery to correct the PCL tear in his knee, instead opting for more rehab. He initially suffered the injury in 2024 and “continued to tweak it in different situations” this season.

Kincaid confirmed that he played through the 2025 season with a torn PCL, which he initially injured in 2024. Per Kincaid, he “continued to tweak it in different situations” this season. The fact that he plans to avoid surgery is somewhat surprising after spending a year rehabbing the torn ligament unsuccessfully. Hopefully things work out better this time.