ORCHARD PARK – One of the beautiful things about football that sets it apart from most sports is the level of teamwork that goes into the making of a successful play.
Sure, there are times when Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen goes into Superman mode and it doesn’t even matter what his other 10 teammates on offense are doing, but those are the exception and not the norm.
Ray Davis was talking about that the other day, rationalizing that his sudden burst of success as a kickoff returner would not be possible without the men who are blocking in front of him to create the gaps that Davis has been slicing through since taking over the job several weeks back.
“It just shows all the hard work and the grit and determination because it’s not just me, it’s all 11 guys on the field on special teams, man,” Davis said. “It’s like going to a symphony. You know, everybody has to be on that perfect note, right? If one person’s off that note, then we don’t sound too good. So to know that everybody does their job and that I’m able to succeed, it’s really kudos to them.”
Ray Davis goes from backup role to special teams star
Yes, but it’s kudos in a big way to Davis who did not do any type of return work in his various college stops, and then only dabbled as a rookie last season with seven attempts for a mundane 21.0-yard average. Yet despite his lack of time on task, he now ranks No. 1 in the league with a 32.4-yard average across 23 returns in 2025.
“Phenomenal,” coach Sean McDermott said. “Just his mindset, let’s start there. He’s embraced a role that maybe wasn’t his initial goal, perhaps, right? And yet at the same time, he saw an opportunity and he took advantage of it, which I think is really, really cool to see. He’s taken a lot of pride in doing well.”
Coming off a rookie season where he rushed for 442 yards and three TDs and caught 17 passes for 189 yards and three TDs, the running back was probably expecting his role in the offense to, at minimum, mirror last year when he was an ideal No. 2 behind James Cook.
That hasn’t been the case because the Bills have leaned heavily on Cook in 2025 who, in just 14 games has 302 touches, already well past his previous career-high of 281 in 2023, and way more than the 239 he received last year. Thus, Davis has carried only 33 times for 106 yards and has a mere five catches for 31 yards as his offensive snap share has dipped from 24% last season to 11% thus far in 2025.
Of course, given the way Cook has played, it’s really tough to argue with his career-high 61% snap usage as he sits second in the NFL behind only the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor at 101.1 yards rushing per game.
“The way Jimbo is playing, it’s a tough room to get out on the football field,” offensive coordinator Joe Brady said. “We’re trying to continue to find different ways to get both of those guys out on the field at the same time.”
While Brady tries to figure that out, Davis has found a new way to help the team. Kickoff returns had been a problem for the Bills during the first half of the season as they shuffled through players like Ty Johnson, Curtis Samuel, and Brandon Codrington, none of whom handled it well. That was one of the reasons why the Bills signed wide receiver/returner Mecole Hardman.
Hardman’s Buffalo debut featured a 61-yard return the first time he touched the ball against Tampa Bay and it looked like the problem was solved, but later in that game he suffered a hamstring injury and that opened the door for Davis.
Davis had four returns for 158 yards against the Bucs, he broke a 97-yard touchdown return against the Texans, and last week in New England he had four returns for a 41-yard average, providing great field position that proved vital in Buffalo’s comeback victory.
Why Ray Davis embraced a new opportunity
“I definitely had some high expectations for myself coming into year two offensively, and things aren’t panning out the way it is,” Davis said. “So I had to shift my mindset and my focus and just find a role on this team where I can stick around as long as I can and have an opportunity to be the kickoff returner with the ball still in my hands. And I’m showing that I can be a valuable asset.”
Four times in their history the Bills have had a kickoff returner lead the league in yards per return. Andre Roberts averaged 30 yards in 2020; Terrence McGee averaged 30.2 yards in 2005 which right now is the team record pending what Davis does the rest of the year; Mike Mosley was at 27.1 in the strike-shortened 1982 season; and Wallace Francis was at 29.9 yards in 1973.
Davis’ 32.4 average is currently tied for the 10th-highest single-season mark in NFL history. The all-time leader in yards per return in one season is Green Bay’s Travis Williams at an incredible 41.1 yards in 1967, a year when he had four touchdowns.
With the new kickoff setup, the return is very similar to an offensive running play and that’s one reason why Davis has taken to it so well.
“I see it kind of like playing running back,” he said. “It’s like inside zone and you just got to start canceling gaps, see the first thing you see, and you just got to run, man.When you’re going full speed and you’re a stocky guy like myself, you got to put them in a position where they got to tackle. I’ve always been a guy where a lot of people don’t want to tackle me, so when I’m going down full-speed, it’s kind of a ‘good luck’ situation to them.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 36 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills RB rises from backup to the NFL’s top kickoff returner
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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