The Bills filled the vacant roster spot left by the suspension of Seantrel Henderson with kickoff specialist Jordan Gay on Friday.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
In the wake of OT Seantrel Henderson moving to the Reserve/Suspended list Friday for the next four weeks, the Bills made quick work of filling the empty roster spot elevating kickoff specialist Jordan Gay from the practice squad to the 53-man roster Friday afternoon.
Gay was released when the team made final cuts last Friday, but was signed to the practice squad earlier this week.
“I was blessed to be able to stick around and now we can pick up where we left off last year,” Gay said. “It’s great. It’s like nothing changed. It’s pretty cool.”
The kickoff specialist has spent most of the last two seasons with the Bills and has 91 touchbacks on 160 kickoffs (57%). Gay was instrumental in Buffalo ranking first in the league in kickoff coverage in 2015.
Bills head coach Rex Ryan admitted after practice Friday that the presence of return man Devin Hester on Baltimore’s roster influenced the decision to add Gay back to the active roster. Hester, who was signed by the Ravens last week after placing their primary return man Michael Campanaro on injured reserve, is the NFL’s all-time leader in return touchdowns with 20 in his career.
Baltimore is also coming off a season in which they had the number one ranked special teams unit in the league. Each of the last four years their special teams units have finished in the top five. In 2015 they finished in the top five in nine different special teams categories, including third in punt return average (11.3).
Touchbacks on kickoffs this season will now put the ball on the 25-yard line, which has prompted some special teams coordinators to experiment with alternative approaches instead of just kicking the ball through the back of the end zone. With Hester and the Ravens’ return unit however, putting through the end zone might be the best approach, and Gay is more than capable of doing it.
“You never know what they’re going to tell Hester to do depending on how deep it is,” said Gay. “With the touchback now being out at the 25. They might tell him to take a knee if it’s five yards deep. With me the theory is for me to hit my normal ball, which is high and out of the back of the end zone, but if it’s not make him really think about whether he wants to bring it out or not.”