Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir. Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Buffalo Bills have question mark at two special teams spots for Week 5 vs. Patriots

Originally posted on Buffalo Bills on SI
By Mike Moraitis | Last updated Oct 2, 2025 8:44 PM ET

The Buffalo Bills made a change at both the kick and punt returner spots in Week 4, but that change apparently is not set in stone.

Over the first three weeks of the season, cornerback Brandon Codrington took the majority of the work at both spots, with running back Ty Johnson mixing in on kickoffs.

In Week 4, however, Codrington was a healthy scratch, and the Bills used a combination of wide receivers Khalil Shakir and Curtis Samuel and Johnson to handle the duties.

When asked about the plan for Week 5, head coach Sean McDermott revealed the decision for who will do both jobs remains up in the air.

"We're going to look at it today, see how it goes," McDermott said on Wednesday. "I think anything and everything right now is up in the air in terms of where we'll go with it."

While the Bills sport the sixth-best yards per kick return in the NFL, Buffalo is also ranked 29th in punt return average, so the team could certainly use a boost in that area.

It was at least somewhat surprising to see the team move off of Codrington given how effective he was on kick returns.

Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

The cornerback ranks eighth in kick return average at 29 yards a pop, but he isn't as effective with punt returns at 5.3 yards per return.

Given how narrow his role is, that was probably the cause of him being inactive last week.

The Bills should try and steer away from using Shakir on returns, as the team can ill-afford to increase his injury risk with how important the wide receiver is to the offense.

We'd love to see the Bills give wide receiver Elijah Moore a look as a punt returner instead, although he doesn't have much experience in that area with just two career attempts.