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Greg Dortch enters his fifth season with the Cardinals. Despite any increase in role on offense, he always wants be a returner.
Wide receiver Greg Dortch is entering his seventh season in the NFL and fifth with the Cardinals. He has become the longest-tenured player at his position on the team.
He has seen his role grow over the years as a slot receiver in addition to his work on special teams as a returner.
It is a role he doesn’t ever want to give up.
Holding onto special teams is a reminder of how he carved out a role in the NFL, as he went undrafted out of Wake Forest.
“That’s been my niche in the NFL — special teams — and it will always be my niche,” he said during minicamp. “That’s the way into a roster, and I take special teams very seriously.”
He has been the team’s punt returner for multiple seasons and, last season, he was added to the kickoff team as one of the two deep guys for kickoffs with DeeJay Dallas. With changes to the kickoff rule this year, there is expected to be a big jump in the number of returnable kicks. That excites Dortch.
“I’m super excited for that,” he said. “At the beginning of last year, I was hoping to step into more of a role on kick return. I was just mainly a punt returner. “DeeJay took one back the first game (a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown). I was cool with that, but just to be back there with him now, I’m definitely excited to step into that role.”
Dortch understands the value of an electrifying return on the crowd.
“I just feel like it changes the game. The game might be close and they punt me the ball, and I take it back for a touchdown. Now we’re up,” he said. “It’s another factor to the game. Special teams wins and loses games in NFL. The margin is so small, and if you have a dynamic punt returner or kick returner who can impact the game, it’s big.”
Last season, he averaged a career-high 9.6 yards per punt return, with a long of 27 yards. He also averaged a career-high 26.6 per kick return.
We can expect to see him back fielding kicks and punts again in 2025.
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