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It seemed painfully obvious during the Buffalo Bills preseason — the team had returner problem, and they may have just solved it after NFL cutdown day.
According the Talbots, Damon and Ryan, the Bills are expected to sign veteran receiver and return man Greg Dortch to their practice squad:
I cannot stress enough how much I’m in favor of this transaction for the Bills. Dortch has 99 punt returns and 75 kick returns in his NFL career to date. So that solves the returner problem. Even though Dortch does have six fumbles on those 174 returns, he’s undeniably a veteran returner.
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A season ago, Dortch finished 11th in the NFL in average return yards on punts at 11.6, which represented the fourth-consecutive season in which he upped his punt-return average and the first time he raised that average to double-digit yardage.
Secondly, Dortch is, of course, a receiver, and that’s still a position group I felt the Bills had room to add talent to ahead of the beginning of the regular season.
In 2022, Dortch played on 42.5% of the Cardinals snaps and was respectably productive, amassing 467 yards on 52 receptions with a pair of receiving touchdowns. He failed to reach 40% of Arizona’s offensive snaps in any of the following three seasons and averaged 34 snags for 313 yards and three touchdowns per year.
Dortch has proven to be relatively sure-handed as a twitchy, underneath option. He’s dropped just four passes on 184 targets as a professional. And, for a 5’7″, 175-pound receiver, Dortch’s 40% contested-catch win rate is rather impressive.
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But for me, a longtime believer in the importance of YAC in the modern NFL, what Dortch has proven to be capable of with the ball in his hands is most tantalizing about the addition for the Bills when considering his receiver profile.
Last season, on just 29 receptions, Dortch forced 12 missed tackles. That’s absurd. For perspective, Jameson Williams forced the same amount of missed tackles on 65 catches (in the regular season). And the 2025 season wasn’t an outlier for Dortch.
Cardinals receiver Greg Dortch (4) sprints upfield for a first down against the Commanders during a game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Sept. 29, 2024. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co
In 2024, on a mere 37 catches, he forced 13 missed tackles, the same number as Ladd McConkey forced on 82 receptions. The dude is a YAC machine… he’s a receiver that cornerbacks, safeties, and linebackers do not want to see in space.
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Roughly two-thirds of Dortch’s career snaps have come from the slot, which could spark more pre-snap alignment flexibility for Khalil Shakir who’s appeared inside on over 70% of his snaps in each of the past three regular seasons with the Bills.
The cherry on top? Dortch, who’s 28 years old, spent 2021-2025 with Bills special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers in Arizona.
I hope this article doesn’t read as though I believe the Bills have just signed an All-Pro to their practice squad with Dortch.
But he checks all the boxes for what the team needed at (punt) returner. And he adds experienced depth — with a specialized skill (YAC!)— to a receiver group that indisputably was ripe for an infusion of veteran talent.
(oh, and he was born in Rochester, New York)
