Jackson Hawes is great

[DuckyBoys]

34 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:

Josh will feed him targets to try and keep Knox well-paid. 

not if he keeps dropping easy looks

[Sierra Foothills]

6 hours ago, Einstein said:

He may make Knox disposable. Especially with his constant propensity to drop balls.

 

6 hours ago, billsfan89 said:

I wouldn't say Knox is disposable, what I like about Knox is that he adds physicality to the pass catchers something that the Bills don't have much of (many of the WR's esp Shakir run hard and to contact but Knox is a big strong dude plowing over people when he gets the ball) but Hawes adds a wrinkle to the offense that great teams add each year.

 

6 hours ago, Max Fischer said:

Hawes has the potential to be an elite blocker, but IMO, he can only make Knox disposable by demonstrating he's a consistent pass-catching threat. 

 

5 hours ago, warrior9 said:

I think he makes Gilliam disposable. He has no need to be on this team with Hawes. Hawes can line up at TE and FB and get him more snaps on the field. Someone like him should be on the field a good amount of time in 22 or 12 personnel 

Hawes is 100x more athletic than Lee Smith could ever dream of. They aren't the same except for their desire to get their nose dirty. 

 

Guys, he's not a personal hygiene product, he's a football player.

 

The word is "expendable."  😆

 

6 hours ago, Logic said:

I could be mistaken, but I don't believe I've seen the Bills roll out a 6OL package yet this season. I HAVE seen (especially against the Jets) a good amount of 12 and 13 personnel.

 

According to the week 2 snap counts, Anderson had 2 more snaps than Van Demark or SVPG so it's possible he played 2 snaps as the extra tight end.

 

Also, Reggie Gilliam is a Core Four special teamer as well as playing snaps from scrimmage so he's probably closer to indispensable than he is disposable.

 

[HappyDays]

FWIW PFF had him as our top offensive player in both games. Gave him a 93.7 grade against the Ravens and an 85.3 against the Jets. By their metrics those are both considered elite grades. Played at Yale and Georgia Tech, but from day one is immediately dominating NFL players. The guy was created in a lab to do this one very niche job.

[HappyDays]

6 hours ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

Agree, he's doing much better than expected at catching passes.  Guessing it was one of these thing where they never asked him to catch passes so nobody thought he could do it, I'm guessing even the Bills may be a bit surprised by it . 

 

TE is a position where guys come out of nowhere. Kittle for example was a 5th rounder. Very difficult position to project to the pros and Hawes just seems like a natural. I think catching that seam against Baltimore was huge for his confidence. Now he knows he can make tough catches through contact against the most physical secondary in the NFL which means he can do it against anyone. He isn't quick enough to become a consistent separator but if he can develop a feel for working open in zone and an ability to make tough catches in traffic, that along with his elite blocking could make him a potential impact TE2.

[BillsFanForever19]

9 hours ago, Einstein said:

Watching the Jets game again, and also thinking about his performance against the Ravens… Hawes is a baller.

 

The guy LOVES contact. I genuinely think he craves it. He engages the block, drives his defender backward and does not stop until after the whistle.

 

I can’t remember the last time i’ve seen a Bills TE who can block this well. Maybe ever?

 

He may make Knox disposable. Especially with his constant propensity to drop balls.

 

So far he's been as advertised. A replacement and an upgrade from Quintin Morris as the 3rd Blocking Tight End. 

 

He's caught a single pass in each game. I don't think his role really changes going forward. He will continue to be used often as a Blocker and a ball may be thrown his way every once in a while. More than Morris.

 

But he's not going to make Knox expendable. They're completely different players. Hawes isn't going to be running nearly as many routes. And he shouldn't. You want to take advantage of his Elite blocking skills.

 

When the time comes to replace Knox, they'll bring in another Tight End that's more of a route runner, separator, and pass catcher. 

Edited September 16 by BillsFanForever19

[Dan Darragh]

10 hours ago, Einstein said:

Watching the Jets game again, and also thinking about his performance against the Ravens… Hawes is a baller.

 

The guy LOVES contact. I genuinely think he craves it. He engages the block, drives his defender backward and does not stop until after the whistle.

 

I can’t remember the last time i’ve seen a Bills TE who can block this well. Maybe ever?

 

He may make Knox disposable. Especially with his constant propensity to drop balls.

Almost enough to make you forget Charles Clay.

[Thurman#1]

13 hours ago, QB Bills said:

Umm..

 

 

He is a good blocker, Kincaid.

 

He's gotten quite a bit better since last year. Must've worked on it during the offseason.

[Thurman#1]

13 hours ago, Max Fischer said:

Saving $9M on a $17M cap hit is very tempting.  

 

Hawes has the potential to be an elite blocker, but IMO, he can only make Knox disposable by demonstrating he's a consistent pass-catching threat. 

 

 

 

 

IMO they already love the 1-3 formations they're running and are going to love them even more. Running those with three guys who can all block and run routes is going to leave defenses scrambling. It allows them to have eight blockers on some plays, and to force teams to defend them all with guys who can guard the pass also. These guys allow the Bills to be both really tough and really unpredictable.

 

My guess is Knox is here till his contract ends, and maybe signs some kind of extension.

[Thurman#1]

11 hours ago, Rousseauisnoschmo said:

Can you please explain how he's important to this offense when he's constantly dropping passes? 

 

 

Partly because he's also made some good catches.

 

And partly because it's simply not as black and white as you're painting it. It's not "constantly." And some of those aren't real drops, they're either tough catches or contested. He has zero official drops this year. Check Pro Football Reference.

 

Not that he doesn't need to keep working on it. He does.

[GunnerBill]

I am away for work this week and in a hotel with not much to do before my diplomatic meetings this afternoon I watched the all22 from Sunday. 

 

All three tight ends blocked well, Kincaid has definitely improved his run blocking technique which is encouraging although he can still doesn't sustain or finish blocks as well as the other two and he had a rough pass blocking snap though a tough assignment against I think McDonald. Hawes blocked nicely in both the pass and run game and Knox was a beast in this game as a run blocker. Trust me he more than made up for not coming down with a couple of makeable catches with his performance as a blocker. 

[Rousseauisnoschmo]

29 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Partly because he's also made some good catches.

 

And partly because it's simply not as black and white as you're painting it. It's not "constantly." And some of those aren't real drops, they're either tough catches or contested. He has zero official drops this year. Check Pro Football Reference.

 

Not that he doesn't need to keep working on it. He does.

Whoever gave him zero drops this year is on crack, heroin, meth, ketamine, magic mushrooms, coke, LSD, quaaludes, oxycontin and fifteen other drugs Ive never heard of. He's very replaceable and will not be on this team next year.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

7 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

TE is a position where guys come out of nowhere. Kittle for example was a 5th rounder. Very difficult position to project to the pros and Hawes just seems like a natural. I think catching that seam against Baltimore was huge for his confidence. Now he knows he can make tough catches through contact against the most physical secondary in the NFL which means he can do it against anyone. He isn't quick enough to become a consistent separator but if he can develop a feel for working open in zone and an ability to make tough catches in traffic, that along with his elite blocking could make him a potential impact TE2.

 

 

Was funny too, he bobbled it like 3 times, but hung on to it.

[BearNorth]

8 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

Also, Reggie Gilliam is a Core Four special teamer as well as playing snaps from scrimmage so he's probably closer to indispensable than he is disposable.

 

Reggie's build is designed to be a lead blocker when you need to get a yard.  Built like a block of stone.

50 minutes ago, Rousseauisnoschmo said:

He's very replaceable and will not be on this team next year.

He seems to be Josh's bestie on the roster.  When you have a player like Josh, even in the cutthroat NFL, you get a few that you ask for.

[PaattMaann]

Knox was also stellar against the Jets as a blocker, blowing people off the ball and opening huge lanes/cut backs. Hawes is as advertised and I think he will improve as a pass catcher. Yes he is the Knox replacement, but not this year or next IMO. We have room for all three TE's and love the way we are using them. It will continue to make us so versatile. 

[Max Fischer]

1 hour ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

IMO they already love the 1-3 formations they're running and are going to love them even more. Running those with three guys who can all block and run routes is going to leave defenses scrambling. It allows them to have eight blockers on some plays, and to force teams to defend them all with guys who can guard the pass also. These guys allow the Bills to be both really tough and really unpredictable.

 

My guess is Knox is here till his contract ends, and maybe signs some kind of extension.

 

I agree with all of that, but the Bills will need cap space and they've already squeezed money out of many restructures. 

 

The cap will go up but its hard to ignore $9M.

 

A restructure/extension is possible, especially as he’ll soon be 29 and might not get nearly as much money on the open market.  

[H2o]

9 hours ago, DuckyBoys said:

not if he keeps dropping easy looks

Dawson had a rough season his rookie year with drops, and then 2023 wasn't that great. But in 2021, 2022, and 2024 he was pretty sure handed. If you look at Kelce's advanced stats right now, he has a 20% drop rate. It's early. Knox has 15 more games to right the ship, and I expect he will.

[JustAnotherBillsFan]

13 hours ago, ***** said:

Does anyone have film of him out there? Would love to see it 

Don't know the finer points of the game but one thing I noticed watching highlights was Cook's run at 2:13 of bills ravens highlights. you can see hawes has a great block and Spencer Brown congratulates him after the play. If Spencer loved his block that is a good sign.

[dave mcbride]

15 hours ago, Nephilim17 said:

How is Cook not part of this list?

And, yes, if Hawes continues to be a beast, I might just get me his jersey.

Fumble.

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I am away for work this week and in a hotel with not much to do before my diplomatic meetings this afternoon I watched the all22 from Sunday. 

 

All three tight ends blocked well, Kincaid has definitely improved his run blocking technique which is encouraging although he can still doesn't sustain or finish blocks as well as the other two and he had a rough pass blocking snap though a tough assignment against I think McDonald. Hawes blocked nicely in both the pass and run game and Knox was a beast in this game as a run blocker. Trust me he more than made up for not coming down with a couple of makeable catches with his performance as a blocker. 

Knox was also legit being interfered with on the final drop, although it was still catchable.

[Mat68]

Really impressed with Hawes.  These role player (niche) roster spot players fail more often than not.  Why scheme and role flexibility is spoken so much during the draft process.  More you can do more likely of making the team. Coming in and being a dominate run blocker is impressive.  Having the technique and nastiness to take it to pro edge defenders is rare for a rookie.  He seems like a homerun.  Has a little more to him in the passing than one would expect really opens up PA. Great day 3 pick.  Him and Walker look like steals. 

[Pete]

17 hours ago, Einstein said:

Watching the Jets game again, and also thinking about his performance against the Ravens… Hawes is a baller.

 

The guy LOVES contact. I genuinely think he craves it. He engages the block, drives his defender backward and does not stop until after the whistle.

 

I can’t remember the last time i’ve seen a Bills TE who can block this well. Maybe ever?

 

He may make Knox disposable. Especially with his constant propensity to drop balls.

Watch the All 22.  Knox was a monster blocker on Sunday.  Many big Bills plays were in part because of Knox’s blocks.

 

Knox ain’t going anywhere, despite some fans wishes.  The front office and coaches know how useful Knox is.  Knox is great friends with Josh.

 

Knox will restructure and retire a Bill.