ORCHARD PARK N.Y. \u2013 Joshua Palmer was ready when his number was called.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m on the field and I\u2019m running a route, I can get the ball,\u201d Palmer said after practice Thursday inside the team\u2019s training center. \u201cAnd I\u2019m going to run it like I can get the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer has all of two catches for the Bills this season. Both went for touchdowns: the eventual game-winner in the late stages against the Texans in Week 1, and a deep ball from Josh Allen in Buffalo\u2019s Week 2 victory over the Lions in the first regular season game at the new Highmark Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo touchdowns or no touchdowns, if my mindset changes based off the touchdowns I get, then I\u2019m losing already, you know?\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n
His two scores in two games are more than he had all last season, his first with the Bills. Injuries hampered him throughout 2025, undermining a promising start to the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to compete. You want to run. You want to help the team win and when you can\u2019t, there\u2019s really not much you can do about it,\u201d he said.\u201d If I can fix my ankle in a day I would, trust.<\/p>\n
Palmer pushed himself to return after hurting his leg in Atlanta last season, but his body pushed back. Ultimately, the Bills shut him down for the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Now, healthy after an off-season of rehab and recovery, he\u2019s closer to the type of player he knows he can be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m able to do what I want, when I want, how I want. And that\u2019s all route running is, is the ability to do what you want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Palmer had to go the long route to land where he wants. Born in Canada to parents from Jamaica, he moved to Florida for high school before college at the University of Tennessee. He started his NFL career in Los Angeles with the Chargers prior to heading to Buffalo as a free agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability to, to adjust, find your lane, and then take advantage of it, and just start growing where you are,\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n
No matter where he winds up, he never forgets where he\u2019s from.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wear my background all the time. I\u2019m proud to be Jamaican. Of course, I wasn\u2019t born there, but I\u2019m still raised as if I was living there. I take a lot of pride in my background,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Palmer spent time in Jamaica this year, helping recovery efforts after Hurricane Melissa hit the island nation, through his Palmer Family Foundation and the Human Development Fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see how they bounce back. It\u2019s amazing to see how they don\u2019t let it affect them. A lot of people are still living their normal lives with no house or living their normal lives with half a house or living their normal lives with no electricity,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s normal to them, and they\u2019re able to just adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s that word again \u2014 adjust \u2014 a frame of mind that allows Palmer to catch on despite what life throws his way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability to figure it out. Whether that\u2019s injuries, whether that\u2019s two touchdowns, whether that\u2019s no touchdowns, you\u2019ve just got to figure out the next step, and just move on from the past, whether that\u2019s good or bad and just stay consistent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For Joshua Palmer, that\u2019s the route, or root, of success. He and the Bills will face his former team on Sunday when they host the Chargers at Highmark Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORCHARD PARK N.Y. \u2013 Joshua Palmer was ready when his number was called. \u201cIf I\u2019m on the field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1010811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[3829,1615,214,53,7,221,253,2368,88,6,1612,9,222,3828],"class_list":["post-1010810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-andy-young","tag-app-sports","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houstontexans","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-rochester","tag-sports","tag-texans","tag-vod"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117334522201799318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1010810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1010811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1010810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1010810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1010810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}