Here’s a joke: Utah’s Dalton Kincaid walks into an awards ceremony for the top tight end in the country. Despite arriving, he’s not allowed in…

Okay, so there’s no punchline and there’s nothing funny about it, but it’s a joke and it’s the unfortunate reality for the best statistical tight end of the 2022 college football season.

According to PFF ratings, Kincaid is #2 in offensive rating, #1 in receiving rating, #2 in pass blocking, #3 in run blocking, #2 in catches (1 behind Michael Mayer), #1 in catch percentage, #1 in yards, #1 in ypc, #2 in TD (1 behind Mayer), and he has the fewest drops.

This is baffling. Here are the finalists with Kincaid included among them:

Brock Bowers — UGA

81.7 offensive rating, 80.9 receiving, 74.5 pass blocking, 70.3 run blocking. 46 catches on 64 targets (71.9%) for 645 yards (14.0 ypc) and 5 TD with 3 drops.

Michael Mayer — Notre Dame

92.5 offensive rating, 91.6 receiving, 52.8 pass blocking, 82.1 run blocking. 67 catches on 101 targets (66.3%) for 809 yards (12.1 ypc) and 9 TD with 4 drops.

Sam LaPorta — Iowa

78.3 offense rating, 82.6 receiving, 58.3 pass blocking, 54.6 run blocking. 53 catches on 83 targets (63.9%) for 592 yards (11.2 ypc) with 1 TD and 6 drops.

Not an official finalist

Dalton Kincaid — Utah

90.9 offensive rating, 92.3 receiving, 60.0 pass blocking, 62.3 run blocking. 66 catches on 87 targets (75.9%) for 850 yards (12.9 ypc) with 8 TD and 1 drop.

The news of the 2022 John Mackey Award finalists is jaw-dropping to say the least. However, the proof is in the numbers and the numbers likely would have been even more lopsided in Kincaid’s favor had he not missed a game and a half due to injury.

The voters got it wrong. Now it’s time for Kincaid to show them why.