Buffalo Bills training camp is now underway in Rochester, New York, as the team prepares for the 2023 campaign. Heading into the Bills 2023 NFL season, the team is still among the favorites to go all the way, but not the trendy choice to make the Super Bowl that they were last year. If Buffalo does finally make a return to the Big Game for the first time since 1993, it will be on the backs of Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, and Von Miller. However, the one surprising player who could make or break the Bills' 2023 NFL season is rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid.

TE Dalton Kincaid is the surprising player who could make or break the Bills’ 2023 NFL season

As Bills training camp at St. John Fisher University starts up, this year marks the third consecutive camp that Buffalo comes into with major expectations. In 2021, they met or even exceeded those expectations, coming within 13 seconds of the Super Bowl.

Last season, they fell short, losing to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Divisional Round at home in a game that wasn’t even close.

Sure, there were mitigating factors. The Damar Hamlin scare was just a few weeks earlier, and Josh Allen dealt with an injured elbow for the second half of the season. Still, the Bengals were simply the better team with more talent, especially at the offensive skill positions.

In the end, Stefon Diggs, Devin Singletary, Dawson Knox, Gabe Davis, and Cole Beasley simply couldn’t compete with J’Marr Chase, Joe Mixon, Hayden Hurst, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd.

The answer to the Bills offensive skill position talent problems this offseason was clear. General manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott needed to go out and get a difference-maker at one of those positions.

However, the Bills' notoriously conservative front office passed on several chances to do so. They made a solid pickup in former New England Patriots running back Damien Harris but passed on trying to trade up to draft players like Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs, sign big-name free agents like Dalvin Cook or Miles Sanders, or trade for RBs like D’Andre Swift.

At WR, the team did even less. They signed a pair of WR4/5 types (at best) in Trent Sherfield and Denote Harty and drafted Florida wideout Justin Shorter in the fifth round.

So, the Bills didn’t get involved with any of the top 16 WRs in the 2023 NFL Draft or any of the big-name pass-catchers who moved this summer like DeAndre Hopkins, Brandin Cooks, Odell Beckham Jr., JuJu Smith-Schuster, or Allen Lazard.

That leaves the tight end position. And that is the spot the Bills did address in a big way this offseason. Beane traded up two spots in the first round to draft Utah TE Dalton Kincaid.

When taken in totality, all these moves (and non-moves) show what Buffalo offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey wants to do in the 2023 Bills’ NFL season. The offense is going to play way more two tight end sets, which will allow them to run the ball between the tackles more with a power back like Harris. It will also create more play-action opportunities. Plus, Allen is still one of the best scrambling QBs in the NFL, and he can sling it all over the field, too.

While that is all well-thought-out planning, the Bills O still runs into a problem with that final piece. The team still doesn’t have a proven No. 2 pass-catcher behind Diggs. It was supposed to be Gabe Davis, but he was wildly disappointing last year, turning in an inconsistent season with way too many drops.

That said, in the modern NFL, a No. 2 pass-catcher doesn’t have to be a WR2. It can also be a tight end. For teams like the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs, the TE is the WR1.

If Dalton Kincaid can step in and immediately become a Pro Bowl-level TE as a rookie, he could be the missing piece to the Bills' Super Bowl puzzle. A weapon like that would allow Allen and the Bills to match up and overpower nearly every defense in the league.

On the other hand, if Kincaid is slow to pick up the NFL game — as most young TEs are — then the Bills' front office just wasted another first-round pick, and their streak of consecutive drafts without picking a Pro Bowl player could run to five seasons.

With that in mind, keeping an eye on Kincaid in Bills training camp and the preseason could give Bills Mafia an early indication of what this upcoming season has in store.