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Should rookie McKelvin take over return duties for Bills?

When the Buffalo Bills’ first-round pick Leodis McKelvin was introduced to the media over the weekend, he was told that the Bills already have two good returners. His response?

“They can share it,” McKelvin said. “They are going to have to give me some time. I’ve been doing it the past four years and nothing but great things have come out of it.”

The rookie does have a point. In four years at Troy University, McKelvin returned seven punts and one kickoff for touchdowns. Despite having only two offensive touches, he racked up a school record 3,909 all-purpose yards. He holds the NCAA Bowl Subdivision record for kick return yardage with 3,817, breaking Deltha O’Neal’s previous mark of 3,455. The seven punt returns are one shy of the NCAA record set by Wes Welker.

Those are some quality numbers but Roscoe Parrish and Terrence McGee haven’t been half bad in Buffalo.

In his five years with the Bills, McGee has emerged as an elite kick returner. In those years, he’s averaged 26.4 yards-per return with five touchdowns and 23 returns of 40-plus yards. 2004 was the year McGee broke out with three touchdowns and in 2005, he upped his return average to a career-high 30.2 with one touchdown. However, since then his average has declined to 26.1 in 2006 and 24.0 in 2007.

McKelvin only averaged 23.6 yards on kick returns in college with one touchdown, but it may be a good idea to protect McGee. You don’t want your best corner to get hurt. The team took Nate Clements off punt return duties later in his career.

The argument to get rid of Parrish isn’t as strong. He just signed an extension through the 2011 season, after leading the league with a 16.3-yard return average. Parrish has two touchdowns in his career, 18 returns of 20-plus yards and four returns of 40-plus yards. McKelvin may have been dominant in college, but Parrish is already among the league’s best.

The best I can propose is a split of time on punts. I’m sure Bobby April will devise some trick play involving both players with a reverse.

Here is a video of McKelvin’s work at Troy:

Who do you think should be the starting returners in 2008?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Kick returner, Terrence McGee, Leodis McKelvin, Roscoe Parrish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.