Given how strong special teams units in Orchard Park have been for so long, it felt as if the Buffalo Bills really struggled to cover kicks and punts last season. The team allowed an average of 8.7 yards per punt return and 22.2 yards per kickoff return. While their punt-return average against was only mediocre—placing them nineteenth in the league in that category—their kickoff-return average against was actually good for tenth overall.
Still, Buffalo has made a concerted effort to improve on special teams. They signed a Pro Bowl return man, and they also added to their cadre of gunners and kick-coverage specialists. In today’s installment of our “90 players in 90 days” series, we profile one such specialist.
Name: Senorise Perry
Number: 32
Position: RB
Height/Weight: 6’ 210 lbs.
Age: 27 (28 on 9/19/19)
Experience/Draft: 5; signed by Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent following the 2014 NFL Draft
College: Louisville
Acquired: Signed with Buffalo on 3/28/19
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Perry signed a one-year contract worth a total of $810,000 this offseason. The deal includes a $50,000 signing bonus. His cap hit will be $810,000 for the year if he makes the final roster.
2018 Recap: Perry spent the 2018 season with the Miami Dolphins, failing to register a carry or target on the offensive side of the ball. In fact, he didn’t even play an offensive snap last year. He played all 303 of his snaps on special teams; that number was the third-highest total on Miami’s roster. He returned eight kicks for 164 yards, an average of 20.4 yards per return. He also managed 12 total tackles on special teams, adding a fumble recovery, as well.
Positional outlook: Perry is on the running back depth chart along with LeSean McCoy, Frank Gore, Devin Singletary, T.J. Yeldon, Marcus Murphy, and Christian Wade. However, his real competition is among the other designated specialists—players like Deon Lacey, Lafayette Pitts, and Andre Roberts—who will appear almost solely on special teams.
2019 Offseason: The most newsworthy item in Perry’s offseason is his jersey number, 32, as he is the first player since O.J. Simpson to wear the number in Buffalo. Otherwise, Perry has had a quiet offseason, and he has participated in all offseason activities to date.
2019 Season outlook: Perry is a dynamite force on special teams, as evidenced by his 12 special-teams tackles last season. The Bills’ roster is a crowded one, however, and it’s hard to see the team keeping five running backs plus a fullback. Patrick DiMarco, the man who plays the fullback position, is another one of Buffalo’s core special-teams players. Perry will need to be very impressive on kick coverage or show himself to be a useful-enough reserve running back in order to justify keeping him around this year.