Up next in our informal report card serious for the Buffalo Bills’ 2025 season, we’ll dive into the team’s cornerback group. It’s a group of players who served as the defensive backbone for a defense that struggled in too many other places on defense.
The Bills fielded an elite defensive backfield for the duration of former head coach Sean McDermott’s tenure with the club. A former college safety, his foundation was of course built on the defensive back seven, and the first draft pick he made as head coach was for cornerback
Tre’Davious White. The man understands how to get incredible results out of defensive backs, in most cases.
McDermott’s final season with Buffalo was no different, right down to the team’s selection of cornerback Maxwell Hairston in the first round. In some ways it was a fitting final campaign when you consider White’s return and career resurgence with the Bills in 2025, managing to hold back Hairston once he was finally healthy and ready to hit the field. Let’s take a look back at the season that was for Buffalo’s top-ranked pass defense — a unit that allowed an average of 156.9 yards per game and the fewest total passing yards allowed (2,668).
Despite their pedigrees as first-round draft picks, White and Hairston weren’t the team’s top cornerback tandem. Instead, they held down the perimeter at CB2 as a pair. The role of CB1 belongs to cornerback Christian Benford, a true late-round gem of the McDermott era. He’s a player most quarterbacks tend to avoid, and someone whose physical brand of football can neutralize a team’s best receiving threat.
However, Benford had a bit of a rough start this past season… and then he got hot to end it. Late in the regular season, Benford recovered a fumble by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers for a touchdown that swung momentum in the Bills’ favor. He followed that up by intercepting Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and returning that for a touchdown — rallying Buffalo to a come-from-behind victory. Benford became the first defender in Bills history to have defensive touchdowns in consecutive weeks.
As we found out, it was White lining up across from Benford as CB2 for most of the season. Originally panned as a depth signing by most outsiders, it was unclear how much Buffalo would rely on White in his first season back with the Bills. It turned out to be a Renaissance season, with White making plenty of key stops all season long. His elite play continued in Buffalo’s Wild Card playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he deflected a pass by quarterback Trevor Lawrence that led to the game-winning interception by safety Cole Bishop. However his season ended on a sour note after being called for defensive pass inference in overtime against the Denver Broncos only to follow that up with an unsportsmanlike 15-yard penalty for removing his helmet in frustration while arguing with a referee before Denver’s game-winning field goal.
Already behind the sticks due to a knee injury early into his training camp that put him on Injured Reserve to start the season, Maxwell Hairston left some plays on the field as one might expect of a rookie. Hairston did show off his elite speed and athleticism throughout the season, perhaps most noteworthy by running stride for stride with Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy before making an interception. He spent the season as CB2b to White’s CB2a. Hairston’s season ended similar to its start, with him suffering an ankle injury late against the New York Jets in Week 18 that kept him out of postseason action.
Fifth-round rookie cornerback Dorian Strong showed some promise to begin the season but then suffered a serious neck injury that ended his season. It’s uncertain still whether or not Strong will return to play football.
Then there was the situation with cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram, which still frustrates fans (and McDermott, reportedly) — especially since Ingram was released to waivers when general manager Brandon Beane put a successful claim in for cornerback Darius Slay. Of course, Slay refused to report to One Bills Drive after the Pittsburgh Steelers released him. He claimed he’d only play for the Philadelphia Eagles, and in the time that all unfolded, the Houston Texans made a successful claim for Ingram.
All of that came back to hurt the Bills in their final game, when veteran cornerback Dane Jackson had to play a snap in relief of White who was hurt by a block from one of Denver’s offensive linemen. That one play proved detrimental, with Jackson giving up a (contentious) touchdown. White reportedly watched it unfold on the big screen and managed to return to play, but only after the damage was done.
Overall let’s hand this unit a B- mainly due to injuries. It may seem a bit unfair considering they were group that led the NFL in pass defense, but those injuries and roster losses (primarily thanks to the Slay/Ingram fiasco) may have played a detrimental role in the postseason.
