The 2025 season will mark the beginning of Tre’Davious White‘s second stint with the Bills. The former All-Pro corner is on track to handle a first-team defensive role during his latest Buffalo spell.
Christian Benford is entrenched as the team’s top cover man. Taron Johnson, meanwhile, is preparing for his eighth season with the Bills and another as their starting slot corner. The second boundary CB role has been up for grabs this offseason, with White and first-round rookie Maxwell Hairston competing for it.
As ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg writes, the last starting cornerback position is “White’s to lose” at this point. Hairston recently went down with a knee injury which drew fears of a major ailment such as an ACL tear but turned out to be an LCL sprain. The Kentucky product is expected to recover in time for the regular season, but his rehab process is costing him valuable practice reps.
Hairston has also been named in a civil suit alleging sexual assault during his freshman year at college. The 22-year-old has denied the allegations and has received the backing of the Bills since being drafted. Hairston could miss time through league discipline in the event a league investigation were to conclude a violation of the NFL’s personal conduct policy took place.
In any case, White is on track to be counted on heavily in 2025. The two-time Pro Bowler’s first Buffalo tenure included high-end play when healthy but also a pair of major injuries. After playing only 10 combined games between the 2022 and ’23 campaigns, White was cut last spring and played on two teams last season. Immediately after the campaign ended, though, it became clear the 30-year-old was interested in returning to Buffalo. A one-year deal was worked out in April.
White is a veteran of 93 appearances and 86 starts. If he can remain healthy, that experience will be welcomed on a Bills team once again aiming for a deep postseason run. A strong starting campaign from White would help a Buffalo team featuring Hairston as a potential successor but also his free agent market next spring.
That does not seem optimal. Dude looked done last year.
likely true though I must give a tip of the cap to his efforts to come back, many guys would just call it a career at this stage. Now he is looking at a starting role on a superbowl contender.
Two years removed from the injury now and looks more nimble, but he’s likely to play less as the rookie improves.
I’d love to be wrong, since I always liked him as a player, but I wouldn’t want to count on him. It’s been four years since he played 500 snaps or more and he’s over 30 now.