Breaking: Buccaneers Set To Sign Bills $14.3 Million Pro Bowl Tight End

The Buffalo Bills’ plans to use a two-tight end offense with Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid in 2023 may have changed.

Now that Kincaid has proven he can be an excellent tight end on his own, Knox may be disposable. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could benefit.

According to Ryan Heckman of The Pewter Plank, the Buccaneers should consider trading for Knox, a 2022 Pro Bowler. This would provide a backup alternative for current starter Cade Otton and could perhaps replace Otton as the starting.

“One position Bucs fans thought the team might address this offseason is at tight end,” Heckman wrote. “But, Tampa Bay didn’t do anything notable there. Instead, they will ride into the 2024 season with Cade Otton still locked in as the starter, unless another guy steps up and comes out of no where to take the job.

“Or the Bucs could try to make a trade for a player like Dawson Knox.” The Bills drafted Dalton Kincaid in the first round last year and plan to employ both at times in 2023. However, as the Bills navigate a post-Stefon Diggs era, trading Knox could make sense. Buffalo will likely prioritize youngster Keon Coleman and veteran Curtis Samuel, with plans to add additional talent in the upcoming summer.

Knox Has Talent to Still Be Featured Tight End

For the past five seasons, Knox has been one of Buffalo’s most consistent offensive contributors.

In 2021, he set career highs in receptions (49), receiving yards (587), and touchdowns (9), and he followed it with 48 receptions for 517 yards and 6 scores in 2022, on route to the Pro Bowl.

Knox missed five games in 2023 due to a wrist injury, finishing with career lows in receptions (22), receiving yards (186), and touchdowns. In his absence, Kincaid demonstrated his potential as an outstanding tight end, recording 73 receptions for 673 yards and two touchdowns.

Should Knox be able to return to form in 2024, he could be a viable TE1 option for the Buccaneers ahead of Otton, a fourth-round pick in 2022 who started all 17 games in 2023 and finished with 47 receptions for 455 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Bucs Historically Weak at Tight End

One position the Buccaneers have little to no history at is tight end, where no player in franchise history has ever earned NFL All-Pro honors.

Dave Moore is the last tight end to make the Pro Bowl in 2006, but only on a technicality; he was listed as a tight end on the roster but made the Pro Bowl as a long snapper, with only one reception for 9 yards that season.

The Buccaneers have only had one genuinely dominant tight end in franchise history: Jimmie Giles, who played for Tampa Bay from 1978 to 1986 and was a four-time Pro Bowl selection. Giles gained more than 600 receiving yards three times during that period, including a career-high 45 grabs for 786 yards and six touchdowns in 1981.