Hoping to improve their secondary after another postseason exit at the hands of the Chiefs in 2024, the Bills used their first-round pick in last spring’s draft on former Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston. Over a month into the season, though, they haven’t gotten any contributions from the 30th overall selection. Hairston remains on IR after spraining the LCL in his right knee early in training camp, and the team still hasn’t opened his 21-day practice window.
Asked Thursday if either Hairston or injured kicker Tyler Bass will play this season (via Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News), head coach Sean McDermott offered a noncommittal, “We’ll see.”
The 4-1 Bills haven’t missed Bass, who has been on IR all season with a hip/groin issue. Big-legged veteran Matt Prater, signed days before the season, has connected on 10 of 11 field-goal tries while nailing all 15 extra-point attempts.
On the other hand, Hairston’s absence has stung. After running the fastest 40-yard dash at the combine (4.28 seconds), he was expected to add some much-needed speed and playmaking skills to Buffalo’s secondary this season. A healthy Hairston would have battled offseason free agent pickup Tre’Davious White for the No. 2 cornerback role opposite Christian Benford over the summer. Hairston’s injury essentially handed the job to White by default, and the former First-Team All-Pro has struggled to regain his past form as a result of age (30) and multiple serious injuries.
White suffered a torn ACL in November 2021, a devastating blow to a player who was in his prime at the time, and then tore his Achilles in October 2023. The Bills released White in March 2024. However, they saw enough positives from him during a season divided between the Rams and Ravens that they brought him back on a one-year deal worth up to $6.8MM last April. The move hasn’t worked out thus far.
Since missing a Week 1 win over the Ravens with a groin injury, White has started four games in a row and yielded a 72.2 percent completion rate and a 101.6 passer rating. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranks his performance 72nd out of 105 qualifying corners. Alarmingly, Benford checks in at an even worse 75th overall after scoring a four-year, $69MM contract extension in April. Neither player has picked off a pass this year on a defense that has just two interceptions (one from linebacker Terrel Bernard, the other from safety Cole Bishop).
Worsening matters for the Bills’ cornerback group, injured rookie Dorian Strong will see a neck specialist and may miss the rest of the season, according to McDermott (via Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic). The sixth-round pick went on IR last week after playing the first four games of his career. He started the Bills’ opener in place of White. Strong has hardly stood out this year, but his absence is detrimental to the Bills’ depth at corner and on special teams. Ja’Marcus Ingram, who has been a healthy inactive twice this season, is now the team’s No. 3 boundary CB behind Benford and White.
If the Bills’ problems at corner don’t improve, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see general manager Brandon Beane target the position leading up to the Nov. 4 deadline. Beane, who has typically been active at the deadline, is just two years removed from swinging a noteworthy deadline deal for a corner.
A few weeks after White’s Achilles injury, Beane acquired Rasul Douglas and a fifth-round pick from the Packers for a third-rounder. Douglas wound up serving as a full-time starter for the Bills through the 2024 campaign. They let him walk in free agency last offseason after his performance declined, leading Douglas to join the division-rival Dolphins in August.
Along with Hairston and Strong, it appears Buffalo’s defense will also continue to go without linebacker Matt Milano. The effective but oft-injured 31-year-old is “week to week” with a tweaked pectoral, McDermott said. Milano injured his pectoral in a Week 2 win over the Jets and then missed the Bills’ next two games. He returned in last Sunday’s loss to the Patriots, but he re-aggravated the injury during the second half and sat out for the rest of the game.
McDermott doesn’t expect an IR stint for Milano, but he does seem likely to miss their game in Atlanta on Monday night. Meanwhile, fellow linebacker Dorian Williams (knee) may be unavailable for the second straight week. If Milano and Williams are on the shelf for Week 6, Shaq Thompson should get the bulk of the playing time alongside Bernard.
