Dalton Kincaid Is Out For Week 12, Making Dawson Knox a Streamable Tight End
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The injuries are building up ahead of Week 12 and one of the more notable reports has Dalton Kincaid out with a hamstring injury. The Bills play on Thursday Night Football versus the Texans. This comes with little surprise given the short week that it is. This outage will cause a need to Fantasy Football managers to pivot to a new Tight End. I will analyze the full situation right here.
Fantasy Football Impact
Kincaid has played 8 Games this season. He has missed 2 Games. Kincaid had 36 Targets (15% Target Share), 29 Receptions, 448 Yards (15.4 Yards per Reception), and 4 Touchdowns. Kincaid is 3rd on the team in Targets and Receptions, 2nd in Yards, and 1st in Receiving Touchdowns.
The void left by Kincaid must be filled elsewhere. We point to Dawson Knox and Jackson Hawes, the other Tight Ends.
Knox has played (176) Receiving Snaps this season and he has (20) Targets and (13) Receptions. Hawes has played (55) Receiving Snaps and has (11) Targets and (8) Receptions.
Dawson Knox ran the most routes on the entire team for the Bills in Week 11
— Chris Wecht (@ChrisWechtFF) November 17, 2025
Khalil Shakir was 2nd and then James Cook tied Josh Palmer and ran more routes than every other WR on the team
This is a full WR by rotation team right now
per @FantasyPtsData
What we must know is that Knox has been with Josh Allen for years. The two have great chemistry and he is the natural fill in more than Hawes. Though the outage of Kincaid may last just one week, I would expect the two Tight Ends to have their Target Shares adjusted as seen below:
Player | Old Target Share | New Target Share |
|---|---|---|
Dawson Knox | 7% | 11-13% |
Jackson Hawes | 4% | 4-6% |
The absence of Kincaid will mainly affect these Tight Ends, no more. If anything, we could see a minor increase to Khalil Shakir in the slot.
Week 12 Tight End Matchup
The Bills will head to Houston to face the Texans on Thursday Night Football. The Texans defense are 6th versus Tight Ends. This makes Knox a bench player rather than a lucrative start.
Fantasy Sports On SI Week 12 Ranking
Jackson Hawes: TE54 (Out of 54)
Stock Watch
Dawson Knox has moderate upside to match the average output of Dalton Kincaid. The matchup suggests that Knox should be benched. They face a tough Tight End defense on the road.
Jackson Hawes is not worth a look, despite being elevated to TE2.
Dalton Kincaid Will Miss Week 12 With Hamstring Injury
Coach McDermott has ruled TE Dalton Kincaid, WR Curtis Samuel and WR Mecole Hardman Jr. out for Thursday's game.#BUFvsHOU injury report: https://t.co/7hrpmfCWqv pic.twitter.com/mU4aCYzKGZ
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) November 19, 2025
Kincaid hurt his hamstring two weeks ago against the Miami Dolphins. He sat out of Week 11 and sits again on Thursday Night. This will give him a total of three weeks to recover in time for their Week 13 affair versus the Steelers.
Soft-tissue injuries such as this tend to be multi-week injuries. The player must reduce inflammation and be able to move well. I am no doctor, so take medical advice with a handful of salt, but reports suggest that Kincaid should trend much better towards that Week 13 return. I know Fantasy Football managers, such as myself, are very much hoping to get Kincaid back as soon as possible.
Luckily for the Bills, they will trust that Allen-Knox combination on an as-needed, <15% Target Share basis.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.