Bills notebook for Browns game: What’s up with Dalton Kincaid?
Following their electric comeback Sunday to snap the New England Patriots’ 10-game win streak, the Buffalo Bills have won three straight and six of their last eight. The Bills trail the Patriots by one game in the AFC East, making every remaining game vital one in Buffalo’s quest to host playoff...
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Dalton Kincaid's availability from week to week has been shaky. Sarah Stier / Getty Images
Following their electric comeback Sunday to snap the New England Patriots’ 10-game win streak, the Buffalo Bills have won three straight and six of their last eight. The Bills trail the Patriots by one game in the AFC East, making every remaining game vital one in Buffalo’s quest to host playoff games.
After playing three straight difficult AFC opponents in the Steelers, Bengals and Patriots, the Bills play 3-11 Cleveland Browns in their last regular-season road trip of 2025.
Where are things trending with the Bills, and what else stood out around Orchard Park this week? Here is our Week 16 notebook.
What’s going on with Dalton Kincaid?
When their 2023 first-round pick is on the field, there’s no debating the value he brings to the offense. The days of wondering if he can be a do-it-all tight end for them have since passed because of his lack of progress as a run blocker. But as a highly efficient receiver threat that wins over the middle of the field against any linebacker, safety or nickel corner, Kincaid can be a difference maker to a game plan.It doesn’t even matter that the vast majority of time that he’s on the field the Bills throw, because he’s able to find open air and be an impact receiver for Josh Allen and the offense. The trouble is, Kincaid’s health is fleeting from one game to the next, it appears, and he’s in jeopardy of missing yet another game this weekend.
Kincaid was a surprise addition to Wednesday’s injury report as a non-participant in the team’s walkthrough, with his all-too-familiar knee designation, which was not a good sign to begin the week. Bills head coach Sean McDermott did not mention Kincaid in his pre-practice roundup of injuries on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, not only was Kincaid a non-participant once again, but he wasn’t even with the team on the field watching practice.
Kincaid was spotted in the weight room adjacent to the practice field working with Will Greenberg, the team’s head of strength and conditioning. Most times that we’ve seen that during a practice week, the player is usually unable to play in the upcoming game. After practice, Kincaid was in the huddle with the rest of the roster, so at some point, he was done with his weight room work.
If it is indeed going to cost him this week’s contest, which would be his fifth missed game of 15, the more apt question is how long of an absence might this be? When Kincaid was rehabbing a different injury, all of a sudden, the Bills added ‘knee’ to his injury designation, which was a bit of a red flag at the time.
Despite that addition, Kincaid played the last two games in his usual snap amounts of just under 40 percent with the offense. His last snap against the Patriots was in the fourth quarter with under four minutes to play, on a play he was not directly involved in and didn’t have any contact that would indicate an injury. The Bills could be using the week, and the upcoming opponent, as an opportunity to build in a week of rest and strengthening for Kincaid to help his availability for the postseason.
But without any on-field involvement, there is always the concern that it could be another multi-week absence. McDermott is next scheduled to speak with reporters on Friday morning.
What’s the team’s play this week at WR?
When the Bills began to take the field for warmups on Sunday in Foxboro, the receiver group had a notable and unexpected omission to the on-field work with the quarterbacks. Veteran receiver Gabe Davis, who has been one of Allen’s most trusted targets this year, was not on the field, which usually means the player will be inactive.Once inactives were issued 90 minutes ahead of the game, those suspicions were confirmed. Davis was a healthy scratch, according to the team, and McDermott didn’t elaborate much on the decision after the fact. It was especially surprising given that second-year receiver Keon Coleman had been on the backend of snaps in his two games back from being a healthy scratch twice in a row. Davis has also outplayed Coleman this season, quite easily. The results from the boundary receiver group were not exactly awe-inspiring.
In total, the group of Coleman, Joshua Palmer, Tyrell Shavers and Brandin Cooks accounted for exactly one reception for 16 yards, with Coleman, Palmer and Cooks all having a drop during the game.
The big question this week is how that room will look, not only from the perspective of who is active, but also in how they will be used on Sunday. Given Kincaid’s injury and potential to miss the game, it opens up the Bills to not having to make a difficult decision. In the last three-game absence for Kincaid, the Bills promoted practice squad tight end Keleki Latu for each contest, but because all three of Latu’s elevations have already been used, that is no longer an option, and the Bills don’t have another tight end on the practice unit.
That would clear the way for all six of the team’s wide receivers to be active against the Browns. Kincaid’s potential absence also would allow snaps on third downs to someone like Coleman, who could work the slot area as Kincaid did on those obvious passing situations. Kincaid is basically used more like a receiver than a tight end in those instances, so it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to train Coleman for that role in this game.
It would also allow Davis to get back to his snaps at X receiver, as it was easy to see Allen was missing a target he trusted outside the numbers all game on Sunday.
There could be a potentially complicating factor, as Mecole Hardman had his 21-day practice window opened on Wednesday. If they choose to add him to the 53-man roster spot with the idea of playing this weekend, the Bills would have to both find a roster spot and then choose a receiver to sit. For the roster spot, the one player that may have been the odds on favorite to be waived was defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis, though Jordan Phillips’ ankle injury complicates that now.
If one of Phillips or Kincaid has to go on Injured Reserve, that would be the natural spot for Hardman. As for the game day roster, you can’t quite rule out Hardman taking Coleman’s spot. Hardman brings more speed than Coleman and would likely immediately take over the punt return role from Shakir, too, taking one thing off Shakir’s plate, who is highly important to their entire offense.
Torrence might be NFL’s most underrated guard
As another week of Bills football passed, it was yet another reminder that the Bills have an outstanding offensive line compared to the rest of the NFL, and their best offensive lineman in 2025 might be someone that no one is talking about. Starting right guard O’Cyrus Torrence, who is in his third full year with the team, has turned in the best season of his NFL career. Not only that, the Bills are relying on him in the ground game all game long, and especially when it matters most.On the Bills’ third-and-2 try against the Patriots, in need of a first down to secure the victory, the Bills did a quick handoff to Ty Johnson and ran it right over Torrence’s gap. On the play, Torrence did an outstanding job to get his quick feet in order to completely wall off the defensive lineman from the rushing lane with Torrence’s nameplate facing toward the sideline, giving Johnson a clear passage for the first down.
That’s just one example of an entire body of work through the year, as Torrence has put together some truly dominant run-blocking and pass-blocking reps throughout the season. As you’ll see below, Torrence is our highest graded Bills player in 2025, and that’s saying something, considering he’s teammates with Josh Allen.
However, even if the rest of the national attention hasn’t caught wind of how well Torrence has played this season, the Bills recognize it. Do not be surprised if Torrence becomes one of their top priorities this offseason as one of their core pieces moving forward. Not only is he playing like one of the best guards in the NFL, he’s one of the best players, period, on their team.
Torrence only turns 26 in January, giving him a long runway to be one of the Bills’ most trusted offensive linemen for a long time to come, and the longer he keeps playing like this, it’s only a matter of time until he gets more recognition nationally and in Pro Bowl voting, much like it happened with right tackle Spencer Brown.
All-22 housekeeping
Here are the season grades after breaking down the Bills-Patriots film from Week 15.2025 Bills season grades through Week 15
Bills projected roster moves: Place OT Chase Lundt on IR, activate WR Mecole Hardman to 53-man roster
Bills projected practice squad elevations: DE Andre Jones Jr., K Michael Badgley
Bills projected inactives**: WR Keon Coleman, TE Dalton Kincaid, OT Tylan Grable, DT Jordan Phillips, LB Terrel Bernard, S Darnell Savage, K Matt Prater
(**Subject to change following Friday’s practice)
Prediction: Bills 31, Browns 9
The Bills head into their final road matchup of the 2025 regular season as heavy favorites. Their opponents have a heavily injured roster, which includes them being without potentially 60 percent of their desired starting offensive line, one of their top defensive linemen, their top cornerback, one of their best pass catchers in tight end David Njoku, their explosive backup running back and several other game day contributors. On top of that, the Bills will be up against a rookie quarterback, against whom McDermott has a sterling record and often gets them to make several mistakes throughout a game.As long as the Bills don’t take the upcoming matchup lightly, they should be able to handle their business this weekend without too much drama. The best days of the Browns’ defense appear to have been earlier in the season, given all their injuries, though the Bills will need to be on Myles Garrett watch all game. Ultimately, outside of Garrett, this should be a smooth sailing victory for the Bills, with the offense scoring plenty of points and the defense forcing some turnovers, en route to their fourth win in a row.
A quick, personal aside
I wanted to take a moment to thank the Bills PR staff for a wonderful gesture, to honor my late father by making a charitable donation in his name this holiday season. He passed away a year ago on Thursday, which, frankly, is wild to think about. I can’t help but think my dad, who was a Bills fan his entire life and loved more than anything to watch and subsequently complain about them when they drove him up the wall, would have really enjoyed a season like this one — an imperfect team that has brought along both fun and some talking points, but one that continued to find ways to win and potentially push for the whole thing.
Thanks once again to the PR staff — Derek Boyko, Kevin Kearns, Kaylee Woodward, Xavier Jefferson and Sydney Long — for such a wonderful way to honor his life.
