The Buffalo Bills will be without starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson for their matchup with the Baltimore Ravens this week. As we know, Gardner-Johnson is suspended for the game after spitting at Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers in the first half of Buffalo’s 33-30 victory two weeks ago. That means that someone needs to step up and take his snaps this week, and while the coaching staff has indicated that veteran Damar Hamlin will be the one to do so, I think that rookie Jalon Kilgore is a better
option.
Hamlin, 28, has proven his mettle throughout his career. Hamlin has made 28 starts in his career and played in 59 games across six professional seasons. No one would have blamed him if his NFL career ended in his second year after he suffered a cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals. Against all odds, however, Hamlin returned to the field, contributing on special teams and serving as a starting safety for most of the 2024 season.
For all his value on special teams, though, Hamlin is what he is at this point in his career: He’s a heady player who understands where he needs to be, but he doesn’t always have the speed to make it to that spot in time to make a play. He wasn’t a high-end athlete, at least by NFL standards, before his injury, and he isn’t one now, either. While he remains a steady tackler, those athletic shortcomings often show up in pass coverage.
This season, Pro Football Reference credits receivers as having caught eight of ten passes for 140 yards when Hamlin is the closest man in coverage. For his career, Hamlin has allowed 61-of-88 passes to be completed (69.3%) while he is the closest man. Those passes have gone for 983 yards and five touchdowns. Opposing quarterbacks have a 115.9 rating when targeting Hamlin in coverage. Buffalo’s pass defense this season has been atrocious, as the team ranks No. 31 in pass yards allowed and No. 30 in passing touchdowns allowed. Given his struggles in coverage throughout his career, inserting Hamlin into the lineup doesn’t seem like something that is going to help the pass defense overall.
Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has given Hamlin credit, saying that the veteran safety likely doesn’t receive enough praise for his contributions to the team. Leonhard thinks that Hamlin’s presence in the back end will simplify communications and help the secondary to avoid some of the confusion and breakdowns in coverage that have plagued them this season.
Hamlin played 68% of Buffalo’s defensive snaps against the Raiders, nearly all of which came in the second half of the game. Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins led scoring drives of 70, 91, and 66 yards in the second half. Hamlin was the closest man in coverage on two of Cousins’ passes; both were completed for 47 yards. Hamlin also managed six tackles without missing one, and he has yet to miss a tackle this season.
So, with all of that about Hamlin, what’s the case for Kilgore? We all remember Cousins’ final touchdown pass, a gorgeous 44-yard strike to Tre Tucker, who had slipped behind the safety on what should have been an obvious “nobody behind you”-type coverage. The safety Tucker beat, of course, was Kilgore. Why start the kid if he didn’t have the wherewithal to give the best deep threat on the Raiders more cushion in a situation where the only way Buffalo could lose was via a quick-strike touchdown?
Well, Kilgore also nearly had the speed and athleticism to bring himself back into the play after initially losing Tucker in coverage. Just one drive prior, Kilgore made a great play to break up a pass intended for Tucker, driving on an in-breaker to force a punt. No one is perfect, and for a young player in his first real extended action, Kilgore showed off athleticism that Hamlin just doesn’t have. Should that athleticism buy him time on the field despite his inexperience and the potential for mental mistakes?
Given Buffalo’s defensive struggles, I have to go with yes, it does. There is only one way to build the mental acuity necessary to process NFL games at NFL speeds, and that is to play in NFL games. While Damar Hamlin is a known quantity, Jalon Kilgore has tremendous potential based solely on his athletic ability. That athleticism gives Buffalo some flexibility in their alignments, as he possesses the speed to play from multiple places in the secondary. Hamlin, for all his solid tackling, is really best as a deep-third player, which helps to compensate for his lack of quickness overall in giving him more time to reach his coverage assignment.
Kilgore might make some mistakes, but he also might make some plays. Using Kilgore in tandem with Cole Bishop gives Buffalo a young, athletic safety pairing that can make plays from multiple different alignments. Adding Hamlin into the mix clarifies the safeties’ roles a bit, but it clarifies those roles and assignments both for the defense and the opposing offense. Hamlin isn’t guarding anyone man-to-man, and asking him to do so is usually a recipe for disaster.
Kilgore, on the other hand, has the speed, size, and toughness to stick with tight ends and receivers alike. The Bills have allowed their young players to work in on defense, building their rep count while also keeping heady veterans fresh. There is no doubt in my mind that Kilgore is a more physically talented player than Hamlin, and I similarly believe that the best thing for his development is to play.
To borrow a phrase from Paul McCartney, if we’re to believe that Buffalo’s defense is getting better, I have to answer with John Lennon’s counter to that line: “It can’t get no worse.” With that in mind, I would much rather see the Bills give Jalon Kilgore a chance rather than going back to the well with Damar Hamlin.
