When Buffalo Bills’ tight end Charles Clay went down with a leg injury in the first quarter of the team’s Week 5 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals, fans became nervous. Through the first quarter of Buffalo’s 2017 season, Clay had served as quarterback Tyrod Taylor’s only reliable target in a stagnant passing game. Clay had caught 20 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns before his injury occurred.

While Clay’s absence was most certainly felt throughout the rest of the Bills’ clash with the Bengals, backup tight end Nick O’Leary was solid coming in off of the bench. He caught five passes for 54 yards. He actually ended up being Buffalo’s leading receiver in the contest.

With Clay now out for “multiple weeks” because of his leg injury, O’Leary will likely be the Bills’ starting tight end for the foreseeable future – and Buffalo’s coaching staff is fine with this.

While speaking to the media on Monday afternoon, coach Sean McDermott talked about O’Leary, saying that the 25-year-old has a nose for the open field.

“Well, you know, I think the thing that you notice very quickly about Nick is that he gets open,” McDermott said. “I mean, he finds a way to find open space in the passing game. He made some big catches the other week against Cincinnati.”

“Tyrod [Taylor], I believe, trusts Nick in the passing game as well. Highly competitive player, has done some good things this year, and I think it remains to be seen how high he’ll go. But we have a lot of confidence in Nick.”

McDermott was then asked about O’Leary’s heritage. O’Leary, of course, is the grandson of legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus. While McDermott does think that Nicklaus is an icon, he also feels as though O’Leary has made a name for himself.

“Well, yeah. I mean, Nick is his own person [and] that’s what we look at when we look at Nick,” McDermott said. “He’s made a name for himself. You go back to college and the career he had in college and what he’s done so far in the NFL. We don’t look at Nick in any other way than that. That said, that’s a pretty big shadow. I mean, that’s a legend of sports. If you’re going to come from anything, that’s some pretty good lineage right there.”

Offensive coordinator Rick Dennison also talked about O’Leary on Monday, saying that the tight end has done a “good job” thus far when asked how the team will replace Clay’s production.

“I think the players that we have, you know Nick’s [O’Leary] done a good job, and Logan’s [Thomas] put some time in the spots that he’s played, he’s done well,” Dennison said. “I’m not going to change what we do, we’re just going to have to move some guys around and see. Charles is a great player, and while he’s down we’ll supplement and do what we can.

O’Leary has done a good job thus far. He’s caught seven passes for 107 yards through five games. He’ll likely be the focal point of the Bills’ passing game in the team’s Week 7 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Buffalo’s coaching staff is confident that he’ll be able to thrive in the new role.