Bills TE Dawson Knox inching closer to full health

The Buffalo Bills selected Ole Miss TE Dawson Knox in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft with a simple goal in mind: give second-year QB Josh Allen more weapons.

The entire Bills’ offseason revolved around that theme, really. WRs Cole Beasley and John Brown were signed to provide Allen with a speed element (Brown) and dynamic intermediate route-runner (Beasley), and the running game was juiced up with the selection of Devin Singletary and the signing of veteran Frank Gore.

It’s Knox, however, who could be the real X-factor for Allen’s growth in 2019. Effective pass-catching tight ends are every young quarterback’s best friend, and Knox has as much upside as a receiver as any of his 2019 draftmates.

Knox has been nursing a sore hamstring for most of training camp but is now inching closer to 100%. It has him excited to finally get back on the field and produce.

“It’s exciting. It feels like it’s been a couple months instead of a couple weeks,” Knox said after practice Tuesday. “ I felt like a kid on Christmas, finally getting back out there a little bit.”

Allen probably shared in the child-like excitement. Let’s be honest, he’s more like the one who’s getting a new toy.

Still, Knox is something of a projection. He wasn’t a productive playmaker at Ole Miss during his time on campus. He finished his career with just 39 catches for 605 yards. He didn’t score a touchdown.

Knox’s lack of production was more about his circumstances than his talent. He played in an offense that was overflowing with skill at receiver, including D.K. Metcalf and A.J. Brown, to name a few. There were just so many targets to go around, and with a very basic route tree and not much by way of scheming plays his way, Knox was left out of the touchdown party.

Knox is the classic example of a player who should have a much more productive pro career than he had in college, but in order to do so, he has to get — and remain — healthy. He’s almost there.