One of the biggest question marks heading into the 2024 season for the Buffalo Bills is who will handle kickoff and punt returns.

Perhaps it will be rookie Brandon Codrington who the Bills acquired Tuesday afternoon in a trade from the New York Jets, a deal that also includes an exchange of late-round draft picks in 2026.

ESPN reported on how rare it is for the Bills and Jets to hook up as trade partners. It hadn’t happened since 1987 when the Bills traded defensive lineman Don Smith to New York for a 1988 conditional draft pick.

Codrington, a cornerback, signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of North Carolina Central, a Football Championship Subdivision level school. As a senior in 2023 he returned 14 punts for 275 yards and two touchdowns of 81 and 85 yards. He also had 20 kickoff returns for 358 yards.

With the Jets, he had a 63-yard kickoff return against the Panthers and totaled six punt returns for 89 yards, meaning he was more productive than anyone the Bills tried on returns.

What Brandon Codrington trade means for Bills roster

It has been believed that cornerback Daequan Hardy, the Bills’ sixth-round draft pick, was locked in as the return man, especially with the news that both KJ Hamler and Andy Isabella are being waived.

Now, the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Codrington will apparently get a chance to show what he can do over the next few practices leading to opening day on Sept. 8 against the Cardinals.

The Bills cut Hardy Tuesday.

Finding a return man has been a difficult task for the Bills in recent years. Last year, Deonte Harty did very little until the final regular-season game of the year when he broke a huge 96-yard punt return touchdown to help lift the Bills to a division-clinching victory over Miami. Take that out of the mix and he averaged just 9.08 yards on his other 25 attempts.

On kickoffs, the Bills had only 19 all season with Ty Johnson leading the way with eight for 161 yards.

In 2022, Nyheim Hines was the primary punt and kickoff return man, and like Harty, he really did very little until the last regular season game when he broke two kickoffs for touchdowns against the Patriots.

The last time the Bills had a legitimate threat in the return game was 2020 when Andre Roberts averaged 30 yards on 32 kickoff returns, and 10 yards on 29 punt returns.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills trade for Brandon Codrington, send Jets draft picks