ORCHARD PARK — Jackson Hawes knows there are three types of football players.

The first version wants nothing to do with the physicality of the sport. The second doesn’t seek contact, but does just enough to fulfill the required assignment. And the third is the player who not only seeks out contact, but enjoys it upon arrival.

Hawes is the third player.

Off the field, Hawes is pleasant and intelligent, with a Yale degree to his name. But once he steps onto the field, Hawes has a salty demeanor and takes it out on opponents as an old-school blocking tight end.

As a fifth-round pick of the Buffalo Bills, Hawes likely won’t be challenging Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox for snaps on third down. But Hawes’ ability to thump defenders in the running game fills a need for the team and it’s a role that can lead to a long, lucrative NFL career.

“You’ve got to love the friction,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “You’ve got to love the conflict — the confrontation, as we call it. … You’ve got to want to be in that street fight. … He likes the noise and some like it and some don’t.”

The most physical players have a hardwired thirst for contact, while others can learn to enjoy over time. Some of it is innate for Hawes, who is 6-foot-5, 253 pounds, but he’s also a product of an environment that bred him to have a nasty temperament.

Whether it was Yale — Yale? — or Georgia Tech, Hawes has played in offenses that call for tight ends to do more blocking than catching.

Yale practiced in pads four days per week during the five seasons Hawes was there, compared to two his final year at Georgia Tech, a program led by Brent Key, who is a former offensive lineman.

Hawes had 566 yards and six touchdowns on 51 receptions over 41 college games, including 16 grabs for 195 yards last year at Georgia Tech. But that was also due to Hawes’ teams running the ball 57% of the time, including more than 60% during his final two seasons at Yale.

“It’s been a culmination of every single event,” Hawes said. “Ran triple-option in high school and we were bashing skulls then. At Yale we were in pads all the time and bashing skulls then. And then I went to Tech and Coach Key loves to run the ball. So it’s a culmination of everything just kind of progressively helping me get more physical in this game.”

Before Hawes carved a reputation as a blocker in college, it started at Highland High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hawes admits that Highland helped craft the brand of football that has carried him to the NFL.

Former Highland coach Brody Benson doesn’t believe in practicing without pads like many NFL and college teams do now. Every day was full pads or at least a helmet and shoulder pads, with Tuesday and Wednesday practices concluding with some sort of hitting drill.

Hawes was a late bloomer, even after high school. He started to get significant playing time at Highland as a junior, when a growth spurt pushed him 6-3, 225.

But Highland didn’t use Hawes on offense much that season, instead placing him at defensive end. Benson could see Hawes had violent hands and was a willing hitter.

Highland finally put Hawes on offense as a senior, placing him at wide receiver. Major colleges balked that Hawes wasn’t going to be big enough to play tight end and wasn’t agile enough to play receiver.

It also didn’t help that Hawes wasn’t getting many targets because of Highland’s triple-option offense. The offense did allow Hawes to flex inside and block on occasion and that’s how he landed at Yale.

“My No. 1 goal is to just out-physical people — to make people quit,” Benson said. “I think that’s something that’s lost today in football. Everybody wants to be pretty, everyone wants to play the finesse game and teams really struggle when you get physical and go hit them in the mouth. … He really kind of grabbed hold of it and really loved the physical aspect of playing football.”

Blocking doesn’t just come from Hawes’ pursuit of contact. Whether it’s hand placement, footwork or blocking angles, Hawes is a technician and it frequently drew praise from Bills tight ends coach Rob Boras during minicamp.

Hawes also knows his strengths and limitations and won’t sulk if he isn’t targeted as a receiver. There is a role to fill on special teams after the Bills chose not to re-sign Quintin Morris, while he can also be used in the running game as a lead blocker or an inline tight end.

The Bills used a sixth offensive linemen on 13% of the snaps over the last two seasons — including 15% last season — which was the highest percentage in the NFL. But whether it was David Edwards in 2023 or Alec Anderson in 2024, neither ever went out for a pass.

If Hawes can be used in the same way, defenses have to respect his ability to run routes, even if it’s not at the same level as Kincaid or Knox.

“Off the field I’m a pretty enthusiastic labrador retriever-type guy,” Hawes said. “But on the field, I’m definitely looking to punish. I’m going to put my face mask underneath a guy’s chin strap. I had a great coach my senior year at Yale, Dave Josephson. … I took his training seriously of four points of contact, with your chest plate, your face mask, your hands and stamping on your opponent’s chin.”