The Bills brought in Dante Pettis with a very specific job in mind: help solve the punt return mess.
Buffalo spent last season cycling through options at the spot before eventually leaning on one of its best wide receivers to handle the work. That’s not exactly the kind of arrangement teams want to repeat, especially when it puts extra punishment on a key offensive player. Pettis, who signed with the Bills on 7/30/2026, has plenty of experience doing that kind of work, and that’s the lane he’s trying to carve out in camp.
Pettis is No. 87, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound receiver who is 30 years old and will turn 31 on 10/23/2026. He’s in his eighth NFL season, after the San Francisco 49ers picked him in the second round, No. 44 overall, in the 2018 NFL Draft. He played college football at Washington.
The contract is a one-year deal worth $1.3 million overall, with a cap hit of $1.075 million if he makes the roster thanks to the veteran’s salary benefit. Buffalo would not carry a dead cap charge if it cuts him before Week One. If Pettis is on the roster for the first game of the season, though, his base salary becomes fully guaranteed.
His 2025 season with the New Orleans Saints was a mix of preseason work, return duties and a late push onto the active roster. Pettis played in all three of New Orleans’ exhibition games, saw 16 targets, and caught seven passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. He also handled a few returns in the preseason, including one kickoff return for 20 yards and three punt returns for a 5.7-yard average.
He didn’t make the Saints’ roster out of camp, but he was signed to the practice squad on October 2. New Orleans called him up three times in November before signing him to the active roster on December 2.
In eight games for the Saints, Pettis worked mostly on special teams and returned both kickoffs and punts. He averaged 23.4 yards on 15 kickoff returns and 6.1 yards on 13 punt returns.
His offensive role picked up late, too: after limited usage through his first six games, he logged 89 offensive snaps over the final two. For the season, he finished with 9 catches for 127 yards on 11 targets, and 8 of those receptions for 113 yards came in the final two regular-season games.
Buffalo is Pettis’ latest stop in a crowded receiver room. He’s one of 14 wideouts on the roster, alongside Tyrell Shavers, Khalil Shakir, DJ Moore, Max Tomczak, Mac Dalena, Keon Coleman, Skyler Bell, Joshua Palmer, Ja’Mori Maclin, Stephen Gosnell, Mecole Hardman Jr., Trent Sherfield, and Quentin Skinner.
So far in camp, Pettis has been getting work as a punt returner, and he’s stayed healthy through the early days of practice.
The challenge is obvious. Pettis’ career has been interrupted by injuries, with four trips to injured reserve in eight pro seasons.
He hasn’t come close to matching the promise of being a second-round pick, and he also hasn’t consistently flashed the punt-return explosiveness that made him a record-setter at Washington, where he scored nine career punt return touchdowns. He’s caught only 92 passes for 1,231 yards and 13 touchdowns in seven seasons, and he has never returned a punt for a touchdown in the NFL.
Still, the Bills’ situation at punt returner gives him a real opening. Khalil Shakir handled the job at points last season, and Buffalo wants to avoid that again.
Pettis could force his way into the mix with a strong preseason, either as a WR6 candidate or as a return specialist. Mecole Hardman Jr. is in a similar fight, with his best path to the roster also tied to punt returns.
Keon Coleman has taken some reps back there as well, which adds another wrinkle to the competition.
Pettis has a shot at the 53-man roster, but he also looks like a veteran option for the practice squad if Buffalo wants insurance in case of injury elsewhere. A roster spot is possible, but a short stay in a Bills uniform feels more likely. If he makes enough noise as a punt returner in preseason, though, he could make the decision harder than it looks right now.
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