![\"Buffalo](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789046120_305_GettyImages-2231196340-e1777903053343.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Bills WR named player to watch.<\/p>\n
The Buffalo Bills<\/a> have landed on a surprise candidate to win their punt returner job.<\/p>\n The position was left up in the air after the Bills struggled to find a candidate during the preseason. Wide receiver Mecole Hardman took most of the return duties during the regular season, but he was let go at final cuts and did not return for the practice squad.<\/p>\n Running back Ray Davis, the team\u2019s primary kick returner, also did some punt return duties but was taken off the job after muffing a return.<\/p>\n The team announced its first depth chart this week, revealing that the winner of the competition was a surprise entry.<\/p>\n Dee Alford Set to Return Punts<\/p>\n As WGR 550 reporter Sal Capaccio<\/a> noted, the team announced that nickel cornerback Dee Alford is the primary returner for the season opener against the Houston Texans<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cStarting nickel cornerback Dee Alford is listed as the team\u2019s starting punt returner. Alford is listed ahead of running back Ray Davis and wide receiver Khalil Shakir in that role,\u201d Capaccio wrote. \u201cDavis, who is listed as the first kick returner, had three punt returns during the preseason, but also muffed one of his chances.\u201d<\/p>\n Capaccio added that Alford doesn\u2019t have much NFL<\/a> experience returning kicks, handling duties during just one season.<\/p>\n \u201cAlford has 20 career punt returns, all of which occurred during the 2023 season while with the Atlanta Falcons<\/a>,\u201d Capaccio wrote.<\/p>\n Bills Could Have Another Punt Return Option<\/p>\n The Bills could still have another option for punt returner not currently on their active roster. SI.com reporter Ralph Ventre<\/a> suggested that newly added practice squad receiver Greg Dortch could earn a call-up for the season opener.<\/p>\n \u201cSeventh-round rookie Tommy Doman won the punter battle, but the Bills have yet to settle on a punt returner,\u201d Ventre wrote. \u201cLook for them to elevate Greg Dortch off the practice squad for the season opener.\u201d<\/p>\n The 28-year-old Dortch has more career experience returning punts than Alford. Dortch has an 8.9-yard career average for punt returns and a 23.6-yard average for kick returns. The veteran wide receiver has appeared in 68 games in his career with 17 starts, making 145 receptions for 1,310 yards and 10 touchdowns.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tNathan Dougherty<\/a> is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training & Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football. More about Nathan Dougherty<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Bills WR named player to watch. The Buffalo Bills have landed on a surprise candidate to win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,7,6],"class_list":["post-997009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-buffalo-bills","tag-bills","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-buffalobills","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117246933730062274","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997009","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=997009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=997009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=997009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=997009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}