Brandon Codrington (born November 17, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the North Carolina Central Eagles and was signed by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

after the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

Early life

Codrington was born on November 17, 2000, in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. He attended Broughton High School in North Carolina and was used on the football team as a

, totaling 320 kickoff return yards as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

College career

Codrington, who was lightly recruited, walked-on at

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliati ...

in 2019, as he had several family members who had attended the school. In his first year with the football team, he was mainly used as a return specialist and averaged 18.8 yards per kickoff return and 7.8 yards per punt return. He was the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

(MEAC) Specialist of the Week after returning a kickoff 75 yards for the game-winning

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

against Delaware State and ended the season ranked third in the conference in punt return average, being named third-team All-MEAC. He also recorded eight

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. Following the 2020 season being canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Codrington started the 2021 season with a game-sealing 77 yard punt return touchdown in the opener against

Alcorn State Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. T ...

. He was the third-leading punt returner at the

NCAA Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate A ...

level in the 2021 season, with an average of 15.0 yards that also placed first in the MEAC. Codrington also was second in the MEAC with an average of 22.5 yards per kick return and made 43 tackles and four pass breakups on defense. He was named to

Phil Steele Phil Steele (c. 1960) is an American sportswriter and analyst who focuses exclusively on college and professional football. He is considered a "highly respected prognosticator" within the sports media. His company, Phil Steele Publications, pro ...

's All-MEAC team at four different positions, being a first-team All-MEAC punt returner, third-team All-MEAC kick returner, third-team All-MEAC all-purpose player, and fourth-team All-MEAC defensive back. Codrington also earned selection to the BOXTOROW HBCU

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

team at punt returner and was a one-time MEAC Specialist of the Week during the 2021 season. Codrington was named third-team All-MEAC at return specialist in 2022, after recording averages of 19.3 yards per kick return and 6.8 yards per punt return. In his senior year, 2023, he averaged 19.6 yards per punt return and 17.9 yards per kick return, scoring two punt return touchdowns. He finished his collegiate career having started 41 games, totaling 93 tackles and 10 pass breakups on defense and 2,148 return yards and four return touchdowns on 130 total returns.

Professional career

New York Jets

On May 6, 2024, Codrington was signed by the

as an

. He impressed as a returner in preseason, recording a 63 yard kick return and a 31 yard punt return.

Buffalo Bills

On August 27, 2024, Codrington was traded to the

. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.

References

External links

North Carolina Central Eagles bioBuffalo Bills bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Codrington, Brandon 2000 births Living people Players of American football from Raleigh, North Carolina American football cornerbacks American football return specialists Needham B. Broughton High School alumni North Carolina Central Eagles football players New York Jets players Buffalo Bills players