As Joshua Palmer trampled through the snow, using a goalpost to practice juke moves on a football field a block and a half from his family’s home in Brampton, Ontario, he was reminded by a comforting voice why it was necessary to train in frigid temperatures.
“ ‘Never mind how cold it is right now,’ ” Palmer recalled his father, Keith, saying. “ ‘There’s going to be a day when you’ll need to do this in the league, and you might as well get used to it.’ ”
Buffalo Bills OTA (copy)
Joshua Palmer was a third-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021. Derek Gee/Buffalo News
Palmer didn’t complain. He followed his father’s instructions during those mornings, when he ran into a fierce wind and his cleats failed to sink too far into the frozen ground. From an early age, Palmer understood he had to make sacrifices if he were to realize his dream of playing wide receiver in the NFL.
Palmer's football journey is viewed was nontraditional. He didn't play in fiercely competitive youth programs like those you'll find in Florida or Texas. Like many kids in the Toronto area, Palmer's first love was basketball. He walked away from football multiple times, until, at 14 years old, he discovered where he belonged on the field.
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His parents, Keith and Alethia, taught Palmer to be patient and committed in every aspect of life, including athletics. He showed resolve at 15 years old when he began as a backup on a Pop Warner football team in Burlington, Ontario, and again as a high school junior while watching from the sideline at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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Palmer always had an innate ability to understand the bigger purpose, and the "why" behind each sacrifice or roadblock along the way. The values and lessons he learned from his parents led him about 95 miles south of his hometown to Buffalo, where he is entering his first season as a wide receiver with the Buffalo Bills.
Palmer became a quiet, humble, selfless, tough, competitive and muscle-bound 6-foot-1 athlete. His coaches describe him as the antithesis of the "me first" personalities that are synonymous with his position. To describe his role in any offense, Palmer cited a scene from the cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants,” during which the title character hands his goofy starfish sidekick, Patrick, a case labeled “Ol’ Reliable.”
Blocking a cornerback to spring a long run is as important to Palmer as catching a third-and-long pass. His personality and leadership qualities are hand-in-glove fits for the Bills’ "everybody eats" mantra on offense – but general manager Brandon Beane gave Palmer a three-year, $36 million contract to do more than fill an ancillary role on a Super Bowl contender.
Palmer came to Buffalo to use his quarterback-friendly catch radius and big-play ability to help the reigning MVP, Josh Allen, achieve more in 2025. And, though Palmer did not have remarkable statistics during his four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, the stories his family and coaches shared with The News support Beane’s stance that Palmer can help the Bills reach another level.
“Four years in the NFL, I’m still learning,” the 2021 third-round draft pick said. “I’m still young. Now I know, ‘OK, this is my game,’ then you attack that and you get better, because now, you have the confidence in yourself and your abilities. … Year 5, I’m trying to hit the ground running.”
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“I tore my labrum last year, so after the season, I got it repaired,” Johnson told The Buffalo News.
'A-ha moment'
On Day 1 of their March break workouts, Anthony Blake had to wake up Palmer at 5:30 a.m. No matter the weather forecast, they set out for a 5K run, followed by a hearty breakfast, a trip to a nearby indoor facility for receiver-specific workouts and, finally, a short drive to Mississauga to run up steep hills at Centennial Park.
Blake, a close friend of Keith, with whom he played college football at the University of Windsor, volunteered to train Palmer once the youngest of three children decided in eighth grade that he wanted to try to become an NFL wide receiver.
By Day 3, Palmer didn’t need the wake-up call. He was dressed, fed and ready to begin before Blake arrived. And once Palmer's March break ended, he continued those workouts on his own.
“From an early age, he had it in his mind that he was going to do whatever it takes to get to where he wanted to be,” Blake said. “That’s the dedication that he had from the start.”
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Even though basketball was Palmer’s first love, he has been frequenting football fields since he was a toddler. He’d accompany his father to his touch football games, and afterward, he'd catch passes from other players on the team. Keith discovered the sport as a ninth grader at Bathurst Heights Secondary School near Toronto. He wasn’t talented enough for the basketball or track teams, but he had an innate ability to understand football concepts and execute them on the field. Eventually, he walked on as a cornerback at Windsor.
Keith's family immigrated to Canada from Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, when he was 6 years old and, three months into their stay, his father died unexpectedly. Keith and his six siblings had to quickly adopt the values of responsibility and accountability from their mother while she worked almost endlessly to support them. Those lessons were eventually passed down to Palmer and his sisters, Lanisha and Keiana. Their mother, also of Jamaican descent, encouraged them to follow the same values she learned as a child near Toronto.
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“I tore my labrum last year, so after the season, I got it repaired,” Johnson told The Buffalo News.
Even sage words of wisdom couldn't stave off the frustration Palmer experienced when he eventually realized he wasn’t going to be tall enough to play in the NBA, and when football coaches kept moving him to different positions.
Palmer finally found comfort and success while playing quarterback at 12 years old. He was taller, faster and more athletic than most kids on the field. But the league had a rule that prevented any player from scoring more than twice in a game. Briefly, Palmer gave the sport up again, and he wasn't quite sure where he fit until, at 15, he was selected to play for Team Ontario.
Facing Team USA at the International Bowl in Dallas, Palmer caught five passes for 124 yards, two touchdowns and a two-point conversion. Winning MVP honors as a wide receiver revealed to Palmer the position and sport he wanted to pursue.
“That’s when I had an a-ha moment that I could be really good at this if I dedicated my life to it," he said.
Standing out
Once every two weeks, Keith would fly to Fort Lauderdale to make sure Palmer was acclimating to the pressure-packed environment at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, a private football powerhouse in Florida.
Was Palmer homesick?
Did he have everything he needed for school and football?
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How was his temperament while trying to prove himself to coaches? Was he working hard while remaining humble?
Palmer was living with his sister nearby, but he was attending a new school in a new country, surrounded by athletes from a wide array of socioeconomic backgrounds. He had to wake up earlier than most students because he had to take multiple buses to arrive early for workouts. Many were pursuing football to escape their old neighborhoods and rough living situations, whereas Palmer's friends and former teammates in Brampton played for the love of the sport and fun.
“It was a completely different environment than the one he came from,” Keith recalled. “He really demonstrated a commitment to the game, and I realized, over time, that he was going to be just fine.”
Buffalo Bills OTA (copy)
The Buffalo Bills gave wide receiver Joshua Palmer a three-year contract in March. Derek Gee/Buffalo News
Palmer had already won two championships at St. Roch Secondary School in Brampton when he arrived in Florida as a high school junior, but he had been a full-time wide receiver for just a few years. His route-running needed more work than most of his competition on a depth chart that featured seven other Division I recruits – including another new Bills wide receiver, Elijah Moore.
Palmer knew he wasn’t going to start, at least not at first. Glenn Holt, a retired NFL wide receiver who coaches the position at the school, routinely checked on his new pupil with one simple question: “Are you OK?”
Palmer would nod, reassure his coach and repeatedly say to Holt that he was eager to prove how he can help them win. With each practice, Holt and everyone else on the staff began to realize what they had in the quiet kid from Canada.
“He was a late bloomer – but every practice, every week, every year, you’d see a change in his game because he worked hard at it,” Holt said. “He was a fierce competitor, and he wanted to get good. The next thing we did as coaches was say, ‘This guy is doing everything right. He needs to play and he needs to start.’ ”
The depth chart also included Trevon Grimes, a five-star wide receiver bound for Ohio State; University of Miami commitments Michael Harley and Sam Bruce; and Moore, who became a second-round pick of the New York Jets. Palmer's role changed, however, when Grimes suffered a season-ending knee injury early in their senior season.
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Palmer emerged as one of their best offensive weapons. He already had scholarship offers from multiple schools, including Syracuse, but he chose the University of Tennessee. More Division I coaches began to show interest. Some thought he might be the best receiver at St. Thomas Aquinas.
Holt assumed Grimes was the reason why then-Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was calling his cellphone one day late in season, but the Buckeyes wanted Palmer. Meyer flew to Fort Lauderdale with an assistant coach to offer Palmer a scholarship.
He turned them down. He wouldn’t even take a visit. Palmer didn’t want to be a cog. He wanted to blaze his own path, and Tennessee was one of the programs that believed in him before anyone else.
“He wasn’t going to let anybody outshine him or seem like they were better than him,” Holt recalled. “I had a lot of good guys on that team, but he stood out. He made every play. … We had really good defensive backs, including (future NFLer) Asante Samuel Jr., and Josh would demoralize him in practice. We were like, ‘Man, he’s really good.’ ”
Next steps
Palmer was visiting his family in Brampton and Toronto last month when he invited Blake to join him for a workout.
The Bills' voluntary offseason program was beginning in a few weeks, and Palmer returned to his roots to continue to prepare for his role as an outside receiver for Allen.
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“I think a good way to put it is, I was thankful and grateful and blessed to make the team and do all that, but now it's time to set new goals and show that I truly belong in this league,” Joe Andreessen said. “They can call on me to play defense. They can have that trust in me to put me out there and there is not going to be a falloff in production or anything like that.”
Blake accepted, but he should have expected the time Palmer told him to meet the following day.
"Six in the morning," Blake said. "I laughed to myself. ... I couldn't even be mad because I started him on that. That's how much he brings along the early teachings and still does it to this day. He knows he has to continue to do it to get to where he wants to be."
The workouts even included basketball drills. Palmer used crossovers, alley-oop dunks and other maneuvers on the court to try to improve his footwork, his first step off the line of scrimmage and how to high-point the football. He never lost sight of the work ethic and determination that got him to the NFL.
The Bills targeted Palmer as a missing piece to one of the top offenses in the NFL. With the Chargers, Palmer averaged just 45 catches, 571 yards and two touchdown catches across four seasons. His career highs are 72 catches (2022), 107 targets (2022), 769 receiving yards (2022) and four touchdowns (2021).
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Joshua Palmer caught a career-high four touchdowns as a rookie for the Chargers in 2021. Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
In 2024, he had just 39 catches with 584 yards and one touchdown, but his 15 yards per reception ranked 12th in the NFL, and he was sixth in targeted air yards. He is a smooth route-runner who understands how to get open, particularly against man-to-man coverage.
"I've been a fan of Josh's since he was coming out (of college)," Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady said. "He's a very intelligent football player, conscientious, wants to know the 'why' of everything. Kind of a seamless fit for our room. He's a guy that can play all positions, play inside, play outside. It was a great get for us."
Since 2000, 17 wide receivers reached the 1,000-yard milestone for the first time in their fifth NFL season. Some in that group had to develop their skills to become impact players, like Davante Adams, while others needed an opportunity or change of scenery. Palmer is aiming to join that group, and each of the past four seasons may have prepared him for the opportunity.
Palmer learned from veteran receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams while catching passes from Justin Herbert. At first, Palmer wasn't quite sure how he could impact a game. He came from a run-first offense at Tennessee that didn't have a reliable quarterback and, in reality, he still needed clarity on his identity as an NFL receiver.
Gradually, Palmer's role crystalized in Los Angeles, and he is ready to apply what he learned over the past decade in his new home.
"I really think he's just scratched the surface," Holt said. "He's not where he wants to be, yet, but I think the more he gets those reps he needs – and he's going to get in Buffalo – it's going to be a lights-out thing for him.
"He's everything you want in a receiver based on where he came from. He takes nothing for granted."
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