Getty Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid speaks to reporters at the NFL Combine.
The newest member of the Buffalo Bills didn’t exactly have the smoothest introduction to the team.
The Bills made a move up the NFL Draft board on April 27, selecting Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid with the No. 25 overall pick. The move came as a bit of a surprise given that Bills general manager Brandon Beane hinted that the team would not be trading up in the draft, and the selection also appeared to catch Kincaid’s draft party off guard.
While he celebrated with friends and family, a member of Kincaid’s group struggled to find the Buffalo Bills hat among the 32 team hats the tight end had lined up behind him. Video of the awkward exchange generated some viral interest on social media, with even the Bills joining in to roast Kincaid about it.
Bills Take Jab at New Pick
Shortly after Kincaid was selected, the Bills team Twitter account shared a video of the draft-night mix-up, poking fun at his difficulty in finding the team hat to show off for the cameras.
“No cap?” the team tweeted.
Bills fans found the moment funny as well, with many sharing their reactions to the team’s video.
“Haha, happy I’m not the only one who was starting at the hat hunter the entire time,” one fan tweeted.
Others felt sympathy for the member of Kincaid’s party tasked with finding the hat under the pressure of a nationally televised broadcast.
“Worst job of the night: the guy trying to find Dalton Kincaid’s hat,” a draft viewer tweeted.
Some speculated that Buffalo’s jump up the draft board may have caught Kincaid and his party off-guard.
“Lmao Dalton Kincaid’s camp was so shocked to be picked by the Bills they had to search for the hat in the piles,” another fan tweeted.
Bills Earn Praise for Dalton Kincaid Pick
The awkwardness of his introduction to the team aside, Kincaid’s pick has earned the praise of pundits who saw him as one of the best — if not the very best — tight end in the draft. Kevin Patra of NFL.com noted that Kincaid has all the talent and physical tools to be a force in the Bills offense.
“At 6-foot-4 and 246 pounds, Kincaid plays like a big receiver, running routes fluidly and displaying some of the surest hands in college football. He can be a mismatch against linebackers based on athleticism and has an innate ability to get open and haul in most everything thrown within his catch radius. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein appropriately compared Kincaid to Cardinals tight end Zach Ertz. If Kincaid lives up to the billing, it’d be a coup for Buffalo.”
Kincaid was a standout basketball player in high school and did not take up football until his senior year, but became a top NFL prospect over the course of his five-year collegiate career. He made 175 receptions for 2,623 yards and 35 touchdowns during his career, earning All-Pac-12 honors and third-team All-American honors in his senior season at Utah. Kincaid finished that season with 70 catches for 890 yards and eight touchdowns.