The Buffalo Bills have a need for speed in the defensive secondary. Over the last two offseasons, the Bills have made a concerted effort to add more athleticism to their defense’s back end, bolstering the overall speed of the group through multiple signings and draft choices.
While it’s clear that this transition was occurring with former head coach Sean McDermott at the helm, it’s apparent that new defensive boss Jim Leonhard wants to accelerate the process. This doesn’t mean that the players drafted
for McDermott’s zone-heavy scheme are obsolete in Buffalo’s new defense, but it does imply that there may be space made for some new blood in the defensive secondary.
In today’s edition of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss Buffalo’s first of three seventh-round draft picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
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Name: Toriano Pride Jr.
Number: 32
Position: CB
Height/Weight: 5’10” 185 lbs.
Age: 22 (23 on 12/18/2026)
Experience/Draft: R; selected by Buffalo in the seventh round (No. 220 overall) of the 2026 NFL Draft
College: Missouri
Acquired: Seventh-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Pride Jr.’s four-year rookie contract is worth $4,555,780 overall. In 2026, he carries a cap hit of $928,945 if he makes Buffalo’s 53-man roster; if he’s released, the Bills will carry a dead cap charge of $175,780 this season.
2025 Recap: In his final year of eligibility, Pride Jr. had another solid year for Missouri. It was his second season with Mizzou after having transferred from Clemson following his sophomore season. Pride Jr. had two interceptions for the second straight season, and he also returned one for a touchdown for the second straight yaer. He totaled 24 tackles and four pass breakups, adding a fumble recovery that he returned 62 yards, as well. He played in all 13 of the Tigers’ games, starting 12. For his efforts, he was invited to the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, where he showed off blazing speed and solid overall athleticism. He ran the forty-yard dash in 4.32 seconds and completed the three-cone drill in 7.2 seconds. He bench pressed 225 lbs. a total of 13 times. He showed solid explosion, as well, with a 37.5” vertical leap and 10’8” broad jump.
Positional outlook: Pride Jr. is one of five players listed at cornerback on the current roster. Dee Alford, Davison Igbinosun, Maxwell Hairston, and Christian Benford are the others. Some other defensive backs, like Te’Cory Couch, Jordan Hancock, Kani Walker, and Jordan Dunbar, also play corner but are listed at DB rather than CB.
2026 Offseason: Pride Jr. participated in offseason work for the Bills, playing both slot corner and boundary corner at different times in spring and early summer practices.
2026 Season outlook: I have to be honest: I keep reading about how Pride Jr. is a smaller corner who likely has to play in the slot at the NFL level, and I used the “undersized” moniker to write about him in the subader of this very piece; however, he really isn’t that small for a corner. Maxwell Hairston, after all, is listed at 5’11” and 192 lbs., and he looked just fine as a boundary corner during his rookie season. It isn’t a terrible stretch of the imagination at all to see someone with Pride Jr.‘s build playing on the outside, as he is less than an inch shorter than Hairston.
Could Pride Jr.’s best bet for forging a long NFL career be dominance in the slot? Perhaps it could be, and it would be especially useful on a Buffalo team that already appears to have three solid outside corners in Hairston, Benford, and fellow 2026 rookie Igbinosun. If Pride Jr. can play both inside and outside, though, it not only helps his chances at making the roster this season, but it helps Buffalo’s defense, as well.
For a Buffalo defense changing schemes, someone with Pride Jr.’s athletic profile seems like a natural fit. He has the athletic traits to play man coverage, and his blazing speed also makes him someone who can close space in zone quickly and efficiently. If we assume that Buffalo will want to keep at least five corners on the 53-man roster, then it’s easy to see a spot for Pride Jr. on the squad. If that margin goes from five corners to four, though, it becomes a little murkier.
Is Jordan Hancock a safety, a slot corner, or a football player in Leonhard’s scheme? Do Geno Stone and/or Damar Hamlin make the club? A numbers crunch in the defensive secondary could be coming, especially given that the “locks” for the roster are likely as follows:
Corners: Benford, Hairston, Igbinosun, Alford
Safeties: Cole Bishop, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Jalen Kilgore, Sam Franklin
Looking at that, Pride Jr. is basically in a group with Hancock, Stone, and Hamlin where no more than two of that foursome will make the team. If I’m making the roster, I’m going with youth, taking both Hancock and Pride Jr. and thanking Stone and Hamlin for their time. In a situation where just one of that group of four makes the roster, though, the decision becomes tighter. Do we go with someone like Hancock, who was fantastic on special teams and horrendous on defense as a rookie? Do we take someone like Hamlin, whose football career has transcended the bounds of what would normally be?
There’s no way to know what the Bills will do, but training camp practices will give us some hints, and the time at which these players appear in preseason games will give us greater insight into what the team is thinking. Toriano Pride Jr. is firmly on the bubble, and he’s someone I hope the team finds space for this year. If not, they’ll likely try to add him to the practice squad after final cuts.
