Bills Lose Former All-Rookie Team Player to AFC Rival

The Buffalo Bills are welcoming several new members of their coaching staff for the coming season, and will apparently be taking a different direction on special teams.

The Bills made a midseason change in the return game, benching specialist Brandon Codrington and inserting backup running back Ray Davis into the kick returner slot. The move will now become permanent, with Codrington leaving the Bills to sign with an AFC rival.

The Houston Texans announced this week that they signed Codrington to a reserve/futures contract, allowing him to start offseason work with the team. The Bills had opted not to bring Codrington back after two seasons in Buffalo, where he appeared in 21 total games.

Codrington earned a spot on the league’s All-Rookie team in 2024, returning 11 kicks for 306 yards, a 27.8-yard average. He also returned 27 punts for 313 yards, an average of 11.6 yards per return.

But Codrington struggled with fumbles and inconsistent play this season, while offering little to the team at his defensive position of cornerback.

When the Bills benched Codrington early in the 2025 season, then-head coach Sean McDermott said the team wanted to explore other options.

“Seeing how the gameday roster looks with certain players up and certain players down, with the goal of making sure we have our best guys out there,” McDermott told reporters.

Codrington’s move to the bench created an opening for Davis, who saw his share of carries cut this season after starter James Cook signed a hefty contract extension. Davis found a niche as a kick returner, ultimately landing a spot on the All-Pro team while leading the league in kick return average (30.1 yards) and return touchdowns (1).

Bills Bring on New Staff, But No Sweeping Changes

The Bills overhauled their coaching staff after a crushing loss to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, firing McDermott and moving offensive coordinator Joe Brady into the head coaching post.

Brady has put his stamp on the staff with some significant new hires, including former Bills defensive back Jim Leonhard as defensive coordinator.

Though Leonhard traditionally works in a 3-4 base defense, he said there won’t be sweeping changes from McDermott’s 4-3 base alignment.

“It’s been the same system for a long time here,” Leonhard said, via The Athletic. “It wasn’t all broken. It doesn’t all need to be thrown out. There’s elements that we’ll be able to build off of. There’s a comfort level from players that you want to maintain. And this is something that will continue to evolve. It might look a lot different in year two than year one, and that’s OK.”

Leonhard added that modern NFL defenses are “much more fluid” than in the past, leaving fewer differences between base defenses.

“I think the evolution of spread offense throughout high school, college football, it’s very similar to the NBA where it’s created a little bit more positionless type of player,” he said. “There are unique skill sets all around the NFL where guys don’t quite fit in your traditional box of edge defender, defensive tackle, nickel, safety, and that’s where I’ve had the most success in my career as a coach was finding those guys that fit in a little bit of a different role. You have to be more creative in order to play to their strengths a little bit more often.”

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