Thoughts on Knox returning?

[TheyCallMeAndy]

47 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

It's the untimely drops that infuriates some of us

This year has been rough, but he only had 4 in each of the last two previous seasons. 

[frostbitmic]

Knox is used more often than not as an additional blocker on the line helping out Spencer Brown. He's a better blocker than Kincaid or Morris so it's an improvement getting him back.

 

Diggs plus 2 of (Davis, Kincaid, Shakir) plus Knox and Cook is as good as we get.

 

Let's out point the Chiefs and be up 3 scores at the 2:00 warning to protect us from the typical late game defensive collapse.

[msw2112]

12 hours ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

Longer-term is a trickier question.  Short term, he’s a least an upgrade in 12 personnel groupings over Quentin Morris, or is a different look in 11 personnel over Kincaid.  While not a great pass catcher, Know has been a solid weapon for Josh over the past few years.  Plus, my gut is that Brady will be able to better utilize Knox on game days than Dorsey, although we’ll see.  I’d say let’s see how the next few games play out, then revisit the question.

 

Knox isn't the second coming of Travis Kelce, but he's a good TE that can block and who has made some big catches for the team in recent years.  He's also had his share of drops and he's a little overpaid.  I'm not concerned about him taking snaps from Kincaid.  He's another weapon that an effective OC can use and Brady will use him.  With the offense playing better the last few weeks, there are more snaps for the offense and plenty of opportunities for everyone.

[DeltaDigital]

the single most grossly overpaid tight end in all of football

[BritBill]

Don't use Knox until the red zone. That's where Kincaid tends to go missing. 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Throw it to Knox and Kincaid in the endzone...

[buffaloboyinATL]

One thought. All hands on deck.  

[The Firebaugh Kid]

Excited to see what Brady can do with him. But not at the expense of 86. 

[billieve420]

Knox should be the primary blocking TE who who can be used as an check down option. Kincaid should be out running routes as he is clearly the better passing option.

Edited December 7, 2023 by billieve420

[Mikie2times]

11 hours ago, Process said:

Two games with Brady Morris played 25 and 29 snaps. Bills are still using two right ends. Yes his contract sucks but we can't do anything about that now. Knox is an upgrade over Morris and we will benefit from his return. 

 

Those snaps are not in two TE sets. They have run two TE's on 8 plays the last two games. 

[Alphadawg7]

15 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

If you asked me to name two difference makers for the Bills on offense over the past several weeks I'm going with Shakir and Kincaid.  Some might feel Shakir is a JAG, but I think he is a sneaky good route runner. Kincaid is certainly developing into a a legit weapon in front of our eyes. I enjoy Knox's energy, I just don't know where he fits in anymore. If he takes snaps over Kinkaid I feel like we lose. If we go to 12 personnel and he takes snaps away from Shakir I feel we lose. I could see him benefiting us in situational spots as we go to 12 personnel or Dalton needs a breather, but this offense has lived in 3 WR/ 1 TE looks since the Jets game. I think that is our most prolific base formation.

 

Longer term where does Knox fit into all of it? If we cut him next year we save about 6 million. Plenty of dead money comes with it, but again 6 million in savings.  Do any of you think the long term play would be to keep them both? With Brady running point I'm more confident we will not allow his return to derail what we have been doing well. It's sort of weird to feel like this when getting an injured player back. Especially one who has made some plays in the past for us just not so much of late.  

 

Before Brady, I was DREADING this day because before his injury neither Kincaid or Shakir were getting enough touches or opportunities, especially Shakir.  I had absolutely no trust in Dorsey's ability to incorporate the talents of the roster and put them in the best position to win every week.

 

However, Knox is a good football player still, and with Brady here I feel much more confident in Brady's ability to utilize the talents of the roster and keep spreading the ball around all these guys.  

[Warcodered]

4 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

It's the untimely drops that infuriates some of us

A broken wrist will do that.

[AlfaBill]

16 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Knox is greatly overpaid for his production and Von was a horrible FA pu.  This has nothing to do with hate.  It's called business.  And if the investigation shows DV then let the hate flow.

It’s overreaction by the typical impatient fan base. Everyone loved the Knox extension and Von pickup. Tough times define the type of fan/person you are. And now the MCD hate with the 9/11 and boots BS. Some of you are so quick to believe the negative crap. 

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

Knox will become the #1 TE because of his 56M contract and will take snaps away from Kincaid our rising superstar.

 

Knox will have terrible drops while in the game causing us to lose the game while Kincaid is standing on the sidelines.

 

I'm very sorry 

[folz]

 

It's always a good thing to have more/diverse weapons at your command as long as the OC is good and knows how to best utilize everyone. If Brady is worth his salt, there is no negative with Knox returning. It's just more options for Brady dependent on opponent/situation. And Knox is the best blocking TE, which should help in certain situations. I think you can run an offense where Kincaid, Knox, and Shakir all still get plenty of snaps and opportunities. But maybe the number of snaps flips a bit from earlier in the year when it was Knox, Kincaid, Shakir in order of snap count, to Kincaid, Shakir, Knox or Kincaid, Knox, Shakir. Morris and Sherfield will also probably see a bit of a drop in snap count as well to accommodate for Knox.

 

 

[Low Positive]

1 hour ago, AlfaBill said:

It’s overreaction by the typical impatient fan base. Everyone loved the Knox extension and Von pickup. Tough times define the type of fan/person you are. And now the MCD hate with the 9/11 and boots BS. Some of you are so quick to believe the negative crap. 

Confirmation bias. It's how people have always been. Here's Sir Francis Bacon from 1620:

Quote

Once a human intellect has adopted an opinion (either as something it likes or as something generally accepted), it draws everything else in to confirm and support it. Even if there are more and stronger instances against it than there are in its favor, the intellect either overlooks these or treats them as negligible or does some line-drawing that lets it shift them out of the way and reject them. This involves a great and pernicious prejudgment by means of which the intellect’s former conclusions remain inviolate.

 

[khlax3]

Morris played 38 percent of the snaps vs the jets and 26 percent of the snaps against the eagles. Gave Davis was over 95 percent in both games. You give all of morris snaps to Knox and 10-15 percent of Davis snaps. That gets Knox up to 40-50 percent of the snaps and gets gabe into a better spot around 80 percent 

[finn]

11 hours ago, dorquemada said:

Knox is there to protect us all from Spencer brown

Right. To be fair, that kept his production down as a pass catcher. Maybe that will change now that Brown seems to have turned the corner. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

58 minutes ago, khlax3 said:

Morris played 38 percent of the snaps vs the jets and 26 percent of the snaps against the eagles. Gave Davis was over 95 percent in both games. You give all of morris snaps to Knox and 10-15 percent of Davis snaps. That gets Knox up to 40-50 percent of the snaps and gets gabe into a better spot around 80 percent 

Good post. 

Knox is still a very good talent. He makes the team better. Outside of the Eagles games, the worst offensive games all season were with Knox out.

[ProcessTruster]

sure , why not.  guy must be fired up to get back out there.  fresh bodies always accepted.  

[T master]

There can never be to many weapons or skill sets to have on a team . Each brings their own individual skills that Brady can hopefully weave into the scheme and maybe put his own little stamp on the plays they have both TE's on the field .

 

Plus the fact that Kincaid has come along as a good blocker there could be the possibility of using them both in different ways in the run game too. 

[frostbitmic]

Chuck would be an improvement at HC even in his current state.

[Mikie2times]

Landing on Knox having a TD in this game and this not aging well 😄 

 

Jokes aside, I never felt like Knox coming back was bad. I like Shakir and Dalton getting the snaps. If Knox takes the 40-50 snaps as TE2  I will take it. Perhaps against KC we might even feel 12 personnel make more sense.  I like Brady managing this way more than Dorsey, that's for sure. 

[muppy]

 A broken wrist hampering a receivers ability to catch no way.......🤨  /sarcasm

 

 

I hope he comes out strong and quiets the rabble dogging him. What we all want to see is consistency with all kinds of receptions easy or difficult. 

 

[Buffalo Junction]

15 hours ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

Exactly how I feel. One of the things I was so excited for in training camp was the idea of "Man, if Dorsey can show any sign of creativity we can have one of the most flexible offenses in the league."

 

I expect that we will see effectively 11 coverage with Kincaid put into the slot. You can run unbalanced line formations. You can put Kincaid into the backfield and motion him as a H-back. Kincaid was even used in jet sweeps in college. You can motion Kincaid at the line to diagnose the coverage and be a blind while passing to Knox.

 

Versus Dorsey where we would go with 1 TE on each side and QB draw out of shotgun

This^^^. Dorsey displayed very little creativity with 12 personnel, especially with regards to the run game. Even Daboll ran a jet sweep or two off Knox in motion. I expect to see more innovative 12 personnel usage, even if it’s restricted to specials. It’s likely though that we’ll see some type of motion that puts a screen, swing or wheel route behind Knox and Kincaid. Brady’s proven that he’s better than Dorsey at utilizing personnel groupings to create mismatches. 
 

Also, Knox coming back is going to take some of those lineman eligible snaps, and not just Kincaid/Shakir/Morris snaps. Brady has also shown that he can compensate for Spencer Brown without keeping a TE in formation which should keep the offense humming. 

[Warcodered]

 

[LABILLBACKER]

It's a crime how few targets Shakir has gotten this year.  Just divy up all of Gabe's touches (drops) and slide them over to Khalil.  Knox will still be needed to help Spencer. 

[Orlando Tim]

The part of the fan base that does not like him is too stupid for words. He is a great blocker, is top 10 active players in playoff TDs receiving, and is generally reliable. He is not a top 4 TE but when healthy is is in top 10. 

[Drew21PA]

Idk why people hate a player on your team when they contribute and are like able like knox

 

i can understand Gabe - a year he needs to step up and doesn’t 

 

but knox?  Cmon now

 

dawson and Dalton could be excellent for YEARS if and when Joe Brady figures it out