There’s a growing collection of Buffalo Bills fans cornered about Max Hairston.
He was the club’s first-round pick in 2025, got injured early in training camp as a rookie but played admirably over the back half of the regular season then injured his ankle in the final game before the playoffs and wasn’t available for either postseason game.
To the surprise of most of us, the Bills traded up to use their second selection in the 2026 NFL Draft on an outside cornerback — Davison Igbinosun. In his post-draft
presser, Buffalo’s GM Brandon Beane said the following on his cornerbacks:
“I got antsy to go get IGB. Well, I was going to try to be patient, but I saw corners going. And I honestly, as we started this draft, thought that was the biggest hole in our roster, was corner.”
He later hinted that IGB brings something new to the Bills secondary and spoke to the cornerback pecking order in his mind:
“He’s big, he’s long, and if you look at our two penciled-in starters with Christian Benford and Max [Hairston] right now, those are two different skill sets. I think this is a third skill set. Big, long, the best thing he does is press. Some guys are man match, some guys are best in off, I think he gives us another added skill set.”
Those quotes together raised some eyebrows, mostly from skeptics of Hairston. Shouldn’t the former first-round pick have the CB2 job locked down?
Frankly, it surprised me a bit too, then I remembered he only appeared on 35.4% of Buffalo’s defensive snaps as a rookie.
And now, to some, Hairston has had a bad summer. The three days I was at training camp, I didn’t notice Hairston getting torched. In fact, I saw him make a variety of plays. And he appeared to make positive plays during the Bills-Browns joint practice:
But the point of this article isn’t the argue whether or not Hairston’s had a strong summer or disappointing summer. There’s plenty of subjectivity when evaluating training camp performance.
It’s to unpack whether or not the Bills should be concerned about Hairston and his fit in Jim Leonhard’s more man-reliant scheme, especially in the aftermath of this practice-observation tweet from Matt Parrino on Monday that sent many over the edge. If you don’t believe me, check the replies to said tweet:
There’s a narrative that Hairston was mostly a zone cornerback at Kentucky. And that’s true. In 2023 with the Wildcats, Hairston played man only 10.9% of his coverage snaps. In 2024, that figure increased but only to 16.9%.
Ironically, in 2025, Hairston played man on 26.5% of his coverage snaps, which is a decently high rate in the NFL. Yes, in Sean McDermott’s zone-predicated defense. On those 52 coverage snaps, Hairston allowed just three receptions on six targets in his vicinity with three pass breakups. He didn’t allow a touchdown in man.
The internet could argue in perpetuity about “scheme fits” for cornerbacks.
I won’t even pretend to know all the technical complexities of playing quality man coverage, particularly in the NFL,. However, from a scouting perspective, twitch, explosiveness, and pure speed are typically the attributes man-coverage specialists have in spades.
Those exact attributes jumped off Hairston’s film at Kentucky.
What appeared blatantly obvious on his film was quantitatively validated at the 2025 combine. Hairston measured in at 5’11” and 183 pounds and ran 4.28 in the 40-yard dash with a 39.5” vertical and a 10’9” broad jump. He exemplifies the skillset of the modern-day smaller, short-area quicks, and speed-based cornerback.
Leonhard did say this to open the week ahead of the final preseason game:
Of course, that comment could be partially referring to Hairston, who missed six training camp practices and the first preseason game this summer with a groin injury. Safeties CJ Gardner-Johnson and Cole Bishop were also sidelined for long stretches during camp. Leonhard being “a bit concerned” with the secondary because of lack of reps among the starting group due to injuries wasn’t solely directed at Hairston.
Am I worried about Hairston?
No.
I view him as an ideal high-upside outside cornerback — who can comfortably reduce into the slot — with the suddenness, explosion, and long speed to successfully combat the lightning-quick separators and downfield specialists in today’s NFL.
Will there be hiccups along the way in his developmental process?
Absolutely.
Hairston’s played 348 snaps in the NFL to date and turned 23 earlier this month — he’s hardly a finished product as a professional.
I do expect him to emerge as one of the bigger splash-play creators on the Bills defense during the 2026 season.
Where do you come down on Hairston before his second season in Buffalo?
