Tyler Kroft didn’t picture 2019 going this way.



Back in March, Kroft was one of the headliners of the Bills’ extensive free-agent class. His three-year, $18.75 million contract was the culmination of everything he worked for and signaled a changing of the guard in the Bills’ tight end room. He would be yet another weapon for second-year quarterback Josh Allen and get a chance to take a leadership role in the locker room.



Then the Bills held their first practice of OTAs in May and Kroft felt a familiar pain in his foot. Before he could even begin to establish himself in his new home, Kroft was dealing with another fractured foot, the same injury that cut short his final season in Cincinnati.



“He came here as kind of the bell cow and the new, fresh signed starting tight end and boom, the foot gets broken,” Lee Smith recalled.



Just like that, Kroft became an afterthought in the public eye. His recovery extended through...