Like the punt returner position, the Bills have had many players back deep to receive kickoffs over the course of the decade. Only four returned more than 50 kickoffs, with one quadrupling that mark. Our last player to add to the Buffalo Bills 2000s All-Decade team is the kick returner.
Charlie Rogers
With 64 kickoff returns for the Bills in 2002, Rogers makes the list based on numbers alone. He returned those kicks for 1,280 yards and one touchdown, with a 20.0-yards-per-return average in his lone season in red, white, and blue.
Terrence McGee
Despite being on the outside looking in at the cornerback position on the All-Decade team, McGee gets another look at the squad as the kick returner. McGee's 207 kickoff returns more than double the next highest number on the Bills' all-time list. His 5,450 kickoff return yards are over 3,000 more than another other Bills returner in history, and his five touchdown returns are easily the most in team annals. He has the longest kickoff return in team history, 104 yards, and his yards per return average, 26.3, is higher than any Bills player with more than 60 returns.
Leodis McKelvin
In just over one season as the Bills' primary kickoff returner, McKelvin has accumulated 57 total returns for 1,589 yards and a touchdown. His YPR of 27.9 yards per return is the highest in team history for anyone who returned the majority of kickoffs in a season, including McGee.
Fred Jackson
Jackson has spread his 56 career kickoff returns over three seasons. After taking over for an injured McKelvin in 2009, Jackson returned 41 kickoffs in 2009 for 1,241 yards. Not blessed with breakaway speed, Jackson was caught from behind on one kickoff return, but managed 22.2 yards per return. In 2009, he led the league in all-purpose yards coming in with the fourth-highest total in NFL history with 2,516 total yards. If he wins the vote, Jackson would be the only two-time member of the Bills 2000s All-Decade team, as he was selected by the fans to fill one of the two running back spots.
Leave your voting rationale in the comments section. Next we will select the head coach for our All-Decade squad.
Previous Installments: QB, RB 1, RB 2, WR 1, WR 2, TE, OT 1, OT 2, OG 1, OG 2, OC, P/K, DT 1, DT 2, DE 1, DE 2, OLB 1, OLB 2, MLB, CB 1, CB 2, SS, FS, PR