Sean McDermott says Bills' special teams experiment won't happen again this summer

Buffalo Bills' head coach Sean McDermott saw what he needed to see from second-year running back Ray Davis during Preseason Week 1.

As it turned out, Davis was not overselling his placekicking ability, and, now, McDermott knows he has a legitimate emergency option on the roster.

With kicker Tyler Bass sidelined by a pelvic injury, McDermott let his 5-foot-8 running back take some swings during the Return of the Blue & Red practice on August 1 at Highmark Stadium. Hitting 2 of 3 attempts from 28 yards away, Davis convinced his head coach to give him a chance during live game action.

"Ray takes a lot of pride in things, right? In particular, playing running back, being a great teammate, and in this case, kicking. And like, what happens if it [a gameday injury to Bass] does happen? What are we going to do in the middle of a game? Now, we're a little bit tested, at least," said McDermott.

After quarterback Mitch Trubisky hit tight end Dawson Knox for a touchdown on August 9 against the New York Giants, the Bills sent Davis out onto the field with the kicking unit. The 2024 fourth-round draft pick nailed the 33-yard extra point, much to the delight of the crowd, his coach and his teammates.

.@Ray_Davis07 kick is GOOD ‼️ #BillsMafia #NYGvsBUF | 📺: @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/x8YJ2qnu7z
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 9, 2025

“You never know, right? I just feel like, what if it happens in a game? We've been on the other side of it where a team has lost their kicker. I think it was in pregame warmups a few years back. So you kind of make a mental note of that and say, hey, what if it happened to us? And with T. Bass out, even though we signed a kicker, I wanted to see what it would look like. It's different doing it in practice," said McDermott.

Even though Bass is still unavailable, one shouldn't expect to see Davis kicking PATs when the Bills face the Chicago Bears on August 17 at Soldier Field.

"I don't plan on doing it again this preseason, I think once is enough. I don't want him to pull a hamstring or whatever, trying to kick an extra point or a field goal. But it was good for us to do it," said McDermott.

Caden Davis will handle the kicking duties for the Bills during Sunday night's exhibition, and Ray Davis is likely to get a healthy share of reps in the offensive backfield.

Ray Davis catch — Aug 9, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills running back Ray Davis (22) goes up for a catch against the New York Giants during the first half at Highmark Stadium | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

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