Getty Dawson Knox celebrates after a Buffalo Bills game.
The Buffalo Bills could soon be making a decision on the future of tight end Dawson Knox, an insider predicts.
After a breakout season in 2021, Knox is headed into the final season of his rookie contract and is expected to command a significant pay raise with a new deal. The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia believes the Bills will watch Knox’s performance closely in the coming weeks before deciding if he was a one-season wonder or if he can become a permanent part of the offense.
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Important Follow-Up Season
After struggling with drops early in his career, Knox became a key target for quarterback Josh Allen last season, especially in the red zone. He caught 49 passes for 587 yards and nine touchdowns, nearly double the totals of his first two seasons combined. As Buscaglia noted, Knox became a fixture of the offense, playing 93.6 percent of the total offensive snaps.
The Bills may need to make a decision on Knox soon before the cost gets too high, Buscaglia added. The market for tight ends is already rising, with David Njoku getting a four-year deal worth close to $13.7 million per year from the Cleveland Browns.
“Knox is not quite the game-breaker and talent like some others at his position, but that doesn’t matter in the tight end market because of how difficult it is to find a good starter,” Buscaglia wrote. “As long as he gives the Bills that same baseline of ability as in 2021, they’ll have a trustworthy starter who can have huge weeks now and then. There is some risk that Knox could be a one-year wonder, so they might choose to see how he begins training camp and the regular season rather than racing to sign him right now.”
BBR: Will #Bills TE Dawson Knox get a contract extension before the regular season?
Knox said he’s not trying to focus too much on the contract negotiations.
“I don’t think it’s any different than any other year,” Knox said, via WKBW’s Adam Unger. “You start thinking about stuff like that, it’s just gonna distract you from how you’re playing on the field, so it’s just same old year, same old thing.”
Other Roster Decisions to Make
The Bills will have to make decisions on a number of other key players. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds is also moving into the final year of his contract after the Bills picked up his fifth-year option, and insiders have mixed feelings on whether the team will bring him back. Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News noted that after the Bills gave Allen a massive extension and a big contract to Von Miller, there may not be enough to give Edmunds a new contract.
ESPN polled executives, players and coaches and on the best off-ball linebackers in the NFL:
1) Darius Leonard
2) Micah Parsons
3) Fred Warner
4) Devin White
5) Roquan Smith
6) Demario Davis
7) Tremaine Edmunds
8) Bobby Wagner
9) Lavonte David
10) Jordyn Brooks
Running back Devin Singletary is also headed into the final year of his contract, and All-Pro safety Jordan Poyer has also made it known that he wants a contract extension. Bills general manager Brandon Beane made it clear that the team won’t be able to pay everyone.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s hard. There’s other guys here that want to be paid, too… I want to pay ’em all — the ones that deserve it and have earned it,” Beane told The Athletic Buscaglia. “There’s other guys here that I feel have earned it as well, and want to do it. There’s guys that have left here since I’ve been here that I’ve wanted to pay, or our organization has wanted to pay, but you can’t pay them all, to the point of your question.”
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