Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Bills rookie TE Dalton Kincaid returns to action after recovering from back injury

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Suzanne Halliburton | Last updated 5/13/23

Dalton Kincaid has enjoyed a terrific few days in Orchard Park. The Bills first-round draft pick signed his rookie contract and he returned to practice for the first time in six months.

Kincaid was the first tight end selected in the NFL Draft in late April. The Bills traded up two spots to snatch Kincaid away from the Dallas Cowboys. However, Buffalo needed a bit of faith to take him, considering that a back injury prevented him from working out at the NFL Combine and the Utah Pro Day.

But Dalton Kincaid was back in action when the Bills opened their rookie mini camp this weekend.

“I feel good,” he told the Buffalo News. “Definitely rusty in terms of not being able to do as much as I wanted to the last couple months. But I felt really good out there. More than anything, it was just a lot of fun being out there and running around the field and playing football again.”

He added: “I haven’t practiced in six months really, so being out there in that environment was a little different. I was a little rusty but the rust hopefully will come off pretty soon and it will get a little bit easier.”

Tight ends are having a moment in the NFL. Dalton Kincaid was the lone first rounder. But four tight ends heard their names called in the second round. Detroit selected Sam LaPorta three picks into the second round, with the Raiders selecting Michael Mayer one slot later. Then late in the second, the Cowboys got their tight end with Luke Schoonmaker, then Jacksonville announced Brenton Strange.

Dalton Kincaid could really help Josh Allen. After all, before Kincaid suffered his injury, he caught 70 passes for 890 yards and eight touchdowns. He definitely was a late bloomer after playing only one year of football in high school. He signed with San Diego, then transferred to the Utes.

Most scouts considered Mayer, the star from Notre Dame, as the top tight end in the draft. But even though Kincaid couldn’t work out, he was a quick riser in the draft process.

Daniel Jeremiah, an analyst for the NFL Network, talked up Dalton Kincaid in the days before the draft.

“I can’t find 10 players better than him,” Jeremiah said on the Move the Sticks podcast. “I can’t. (And) I know you can say he’s a little bit older. He had a back [injury], which I’m told he passed all his physicals. He’s fine there. When you turn on the tape, there’s not 10 players better than this dude in this draft.”

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: