Christian Benford remains one of the most underrated cornerbacks in the NFL, and he’s started to round into form for the Buffalo Bills the past two weeks.
And his spike in performance has ironically occurred after he missed a game with a turf toe injury.
Let’s track Benford’s 2026 season thus far.
In Week 1, he followed Nico Collins. Shadowed him, really.
He was the primary coverage defender on 91.4% of the Texans receiver’s routes, and the results weren’t fantastic but were far from brutal for Benford.
He allowed six catches for 66 yards and a touchdown on 32 routes in coverage on Collins.
Then, in Week 2, Benford covered the super-slippery, mostly-slot specialist Amon-Ra St. Brown on 13 routes. He yielded two grabs for 23 yards and a score. Better.
The predominant coverage assignment for Benford in that game, Isaac TeSlaa, whom the Bills cornerback followed on 60.6% of his routes, only had one catch for 20 yards in those matchups.
In Week 3, Benford did not shadow anyone. He moved around throughout the game and surrendered three catches for 40 yards to Quentin Johnston and just one snag for 11 yards to Ladd McConkey on 14 total coverage snaps.
He missed Week 4’s game with that turf toe injury.
In Week 5, Benford covered Puka Nacua and Davante Adams on more than 67% of those receivers’ routes. On those 30 routes, the Bills top cornerback allowed six catches for a mere 44 yards without a score.
In Week 6, Benford really settled into a groove. He covered Raiders phenom tight end Brock Bowers on 18 of his routes and gave up two catches for 23 yards. Bowers first catch in the game didn’t happen until there was less than five minutes to go in the third quarter.
Altogether, Benford has five pass breakups and 28 tackles in five contests to date this season.
The former sixth-round pick is back to playing his normal brand of football. And although he doesn’t have the blue-blood college pedigree or a freaky combine performance on his resume, he’s acclimated well to Jim Leonhard’s scheme.
All stats courtesy of Fantasy Points Data*
