The undrafted tight end parlayed a gritty camp and Josh Allen’s trust into a roster spot, giving Joe Brady’s offense a versatile weapon to unlock new schemes.
When the Buffalo Bills announced their 53-man roster for the 2026 season, one of the biggest surprises to fans came on the offensive side of the ball. Not only did the Bills decide to keep just five wide receivers, but they also kept four tight ends.
It was expected that Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox, and Jackson Hawes would be the three to suit up this season. However, it was also Keleki Latu who did enough over the summer to earn a roster spot.
An undrafted free agent out of Washington in 2025, Letu appeared in five games for Buffalo last season. In those games, he made four catches on four targets for 35 yards, with three being first-down conversions.
For general manager Brandon Beane, Latu's place on the roster comes after a year of hard work to get to this point.
"He's come a long way from 12 months ago," Beane said during his appearance with the media on Tuesday. "I don't think he was nearly pushing for a roster spot coming out of his rookie year or the rookie camp, but he's just gotten better and better to the point last season, we ended up expiring all of his [practice squad] elevations."
Beane said that Latu turned into a player who quarterback Josh Allen and the rest of his offensive teammates were able to trust whenever he was on the field. Whether it was as a blocker or in the passing game, Beane said he saw a player working towards being a complete tight end.
Acknowledging the fact that he's usually only kept three tight ends, Beane said it was a decision about making sure to roster the best 53 players possible, even if it does lean heavily on one position.
From a coaching standpoint, having a fourth tight end opens up a variety of new options for Joe Brady as he builds an offense fully in his image.
"The fortunate thing we have is such a unique tight end room that you have the ability to build a lot of different structures and play 10 personnel sets, 20 personnel sets, and do a lot of different things with that," he said.
For Latu, specifically, Brady praised how much he's improved since joining the team out of college and what he can bring to game plans.
"He had such a good off-season and led into training camp, and he was so solid and so consistent with what he's doing," he said. "He's a guy that can line up in a lot of different roles, and it brings more versatility to that tight end room.
"It should make my life a little easier."
