Ray Davis Camp Update — August 31: A Muffed Punt That Cost Him Nothing
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 31
Davis muffed his first punt-return attempt of Thursday's finale, handing Pittsburgh the ball at the thirteen and setting up an early touchdown — then answered with a twelve-yard return on his next try and made the initial fifty-three. His chief return rival, Mecole Hardman, was released two days later, though no coach has named a Week One returner.
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Ray Davis muffed a punt this week, and it turned out to matter less than what happened around him. On his first return attempt of Thursday's finale against Pittsburgh, Davis put the ball on the ground, handing the Steelers possession at the 13; one play later Pittsburgh had a touchdown, per Randy Gurzi at Bills On SI, who also logged the answer — a 12-yard return on Davis's next attempt. He is on the initial 53, one of three running backs behind James Cook alongside Ty Johnson, per Ross Johnston at A to Z Sports and the team's own roster release. Two days after the finale his chief competition for the return job was gone: Mecole Hardman, of whom Gurzi wrote that he "needed to be perfect this offseason to make the roster and that wasn't the case" — that after a finale drop, his third of the preseason, per Ralph Ventre at Bills On SI — was released Saturday, and Dante Pettis, the other return-capable veteran, went out the same day, per the team's official transactions. What no one has done is name a returner. No coach or team source has settled the job on the record; the closest thing is Johnston writing "expect to see Ray Davis in the return game" in his roster breakdown — an outlet's expectation, not a coaching decision, and we'll treat it as exactly that.
The backfield above him also reached its final shape. Buffalo kept three backs — Cook, Johnson, Davis — and released Frank Gore Jr., Ian Wheeler and fullback Ben VanSumeren, per Johnston and the team transactions. Wheeler had scored the game-winning two-yard touchdown in the 28 to 27 comeback three days before his release, per Mike Maynard on the team site — a measure of how little exhibition production protected anyone in this room. Johnson made it without having practiced since August eighth, per CBS Sports, with head coach Joe Brady saying "Ty went from not walking to now he's running," per Ventre.
For anyone new to this profile: the June preview called Davis the insurance policy on James Cook — standalone value thin while Cook is healthy and Johnson owns passing downs — with special teams as his genuine weekly job. Cut week sharpened that read on the special-teams half: the rival for the job was released and the muff didn't cost Davis his spot. Last week we watched two things — Johnson's absence did linger, and he made the roster anyway, so the tier above Davis stands; the return job thinned to almost nobody but was never settled by any reported decision. That last piece is what we'll be looking for as the opener approaches.
_Data via nflverse._
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