Dalton Kincaid 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Utah TE

Dalton Kincaid, Utah

6’4″, 240 pounds; SR

A zero-star recruit in 2019, Kincaid played just one year in high school in Las Vegas because his team played a wing-T offense where he barely got a chance to show his receiving skills. He started his career at San Diego (FCS), where he amassed over 1,200 yards and 19 touchdowns across two seasons. After that, he transferred to Utah, where he only caught one pass in 2020, before converting 36 catches for 510 yards and eight touchdowns the following season. With the other Utah tight-end Brandon Kuithe (Utah used a lot of 12 personnel early on) getting hurt in the first few weeks of last year, Kincaid needed to step up and he did so with 70 catches for 890 yards and eight more TDs, which earned him first-team All-Pac-12 accolades.

+ Heavily utilized in-line by the Utes despite his receiving skills and affording to add a little more weight

+ Strikes low with his lands, provides consistent leg-drive and overall effort as a blocker, whether he’s asked to seal the defensive end on the backside on run plays or is asked to occupy safeties in the screen game

+ Delivers a good bump to allow his teammates to get their base in position to secure the down-linemen and then push guys on the second level out of the lane effectively

+ What he’s awesome at though are those wide zone combos with the tackle, where he peels off and takes those outside linebackers or safeties behind it for a ride

+ Display tremendous hip flexion and short-area agility to get his base around and seal off edge defenders who try to crash through the backside

+ Also excels on lead-blocks as the second guy on GH/GF counter, with the way he unloads on linebackers on the move

+ Tremendous at being able to snatch up smaller bodies, driving his feet through contact and creating space for his teammates in the screen and sweep games

+ Has the burst off the line to put safeties on their heels in one-on-one coverage and can make some dynamic square cuts to get open

+ You love what he can present on those deep-in/dig routes out of the slot, to work the middle of the field off that – Only Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer had more than Kincaid’s six catches of 20+ air yards among draft-eligible TEs

+ That speed can also be used horizontally on some crossing routes, especially after landing a chip first, to help out protection, or slipping across the second level off bootlegs

+ How loose he is at the hips and ankles to bend effortlessly is rare

+ Understands how to attack the edges of defenders’ frames and winning against their alignment, consistently providing himself with room with the initial route stem

+ Yet, he also has the play strength to fight through contact and throw by defenders, who are leveraged towards where he wants to break in zone

+ There’s no wasted movement on hitch, stick, hook routes, etc. to chip away at defenses with papercuts, as he and the quarterback connect with defenders sinking past the break-point

+ Recognizes when to slow down his breaks and get his eyes on the quarterback, as he’s about to enter voids in zone coverage, along with slightly adjusting his stem as he sees defenders bail out

+ Consistently catches the ball away from his frame and displays strong hands, while his technique doesn’t vain dealing with challenging angles of arrival – Only dropped two of 108 catchable targets across the past two seasons (1.9%)

+ Showcases tremendous focus with defenders initiating contact just as or slightly before the ball arrives at him – Hauled in exactly half of his 18 contested targets in 2022

+ Immediately brings the ball into his frame, transitions upfield and runs with his pads down – He can really build up momentum in order to shrug off tacklers in his path

+ Along with that, he has a knack for making the first man miss with a juke move and contorting his body to avoid guys being able to wrap him up – Forced 16 missed tackles this past season (third-most among draft-eligible TEs)

+ Absolutely tore apart USC in the ’22 regular season, catching all 16 of his targets for 234 yards and a touchdown, along with drawing a couple of flags

+ Received PFF receiving grades of 83.2 and 90.1 respectively in the last two years

– Still on the lighter end for an in-line option (only three starting TEs at 240 pounds or less in the NFL) and you see him on the turf or spun the wrong way more often than you’d like, going up against physical edge-setters

– Tends to get his head too far out in front at times and allow well-schooled defenders to slip off his blocks as he tries to make up for the lack of size

– Lacks the type of high-end explosiveness and long speed you typically see from moving tight-ends that go early in the draft

– Not quite the same kind of savvy route-runner teammate Brandon Kuithe is, in terms of manipulating defenders with body-language and the way he sets up his secondary breaks – such as on stick-nods

If your team runs a system that needs a true in-line option, who can act as an extra tackle in the run game, this is not your guy. Kincaid isn’t going to split safeties in cover-two or pull away from fast DBs, but there are so many redeeming qualities to his game. The way he gets in and out of breaks is so effortless, he approaches the ball better than anybody in this class and is highly effective after the catch. For him to consistently be able to come up with those combat catches and how efficient he is once the ball is in his hands will translate very well to the next level, I believe. As I said, he’s not a traditional Y. However, considering he only started playing football in 2018 and still has some room to build up muscle, combined with the effort he displays as a blocker, it will force defenses to respect him as a tight-end. This will therefore create matchup issues in terms of personnel usage because he’s a legit extra receiver.

Grade: Top-20 overall

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