Greg Little

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Greg Little (15) makes a catch during practice on Wednesday in Orchard Park, N.Y.

(Bill Wippert | The Associated Press)

Orchard Park, N.Y. — Greg Little doesn't want this opportunity to go to waste.

In the last two years, Little has bounced around the NFL. Once a promising second round pick of the Cleveland Browns, Little was cut after three seasons with the team. He briefly latched on with the Raiders prior to the 2014 season but was cut a few months later. The Bengals gave him another shot but he lasted only a year.

With all of those stops, Little has never matched the production of his rookie season when he caught 61 passes on 121 targets for 709 yards. That was in 2011. In 2015, Little didn't catch a single pass. So when he signed a futures contract with Buffalo in January, he did so with a few years of lessons in the importance of the opportunity.

"I think Rex breeds competition, and I just saw opportunity where I could come in and possibly earn a starting job," Little said after a recent Bills OTA practice. "When the opportunity is there just seizing that moment and making the best of it. Just making a play. I think that's what this league is really built on is guys who can make plays or extend routine plays and make them unusual."

The Bills have a logjam at wide receiver behind presumed starters Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods. Jarrett Boykin, Leonard Hankerson, Dez Lewis, Marquise Goodwin, Greg Salas and Kolby Listenbee are among the receivers competing with Little for limited roster spots. So Little decided to get a bit of a head start by working with quarterback Tyrod Taylor during the winter.

"I flew down to Florida a few times and we go some extra work up here," Little said. "It's really going to be something to keep building on in camp. Tyrod and I were friends already, so I just knew that was one of the things that came with it. I was going to get to work with the quarterback in the offseason. Like I said, I really think with he and I just continuing to work and him developing confidence, when those one-on-one matchups show, he knows where I'm going to be and I'm going to make the play for him."

Little and Taylor have known one another since they were getting recruited back in high school. They played together in the Army High School All-American game. That, and a previous relationship with wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal, made the Bills the right fit for Little.

He knows it will take more than that to win a job, though. He's still fighting for reps and trying to use those reps to make an impression.

"I'm definitely going to try to bring an edge and a toughness mentality to play with a chip on your shoulder and be dominant," Little said. "I think I'll try to spread that throughout the room from play one, from rep one, that we're it. Even though we're not getting the ball, we're going to make sure our assignment is taken care of. We're going to show up on film, whether it's blocking or catching or extending a play down field."

Little needs to show up on film. He just turned 27, so there aren't many more chances for him to stick on an NFL roster. He knows Cleveland was a missed opportunity, but he's hoping he's learned from it.

"When you're the guy, they expect a standard from you," Little said. "You can't behind any shade or anything like that. You're counted on every moment, every play. They expect you to make it no matter what."