Countdown to Training Camp: Tre'Davious White ranks as 3rd Most Valuable Bill
Perhaps the most important component of the Buffalo Bills' defense, cornerback Tre'Davious White plays with confidence and has more than lived up to expectations as a 2017 first-round draft pick from the day he entered the NFL.
He's one of five members of the defense who have been with coach Sean McDermott every step of the way in Buffalo.
As such, White projects as the third Most Valuable Bill for 2021 in our day-by-day unveiling of the list leading up to the first practice of training camp on Wednesday.
Like everyone else in the building, White senses how good this team can become.
"We're close," he said after the Bills fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. "We're very close. We've just got to play our best football when the time comes. ... The group that we have, resilient group. When our backs are up against the wall and we're faced with a challenge, we always seem to come out on the up end of it.
"We'll get another shot, and I just feel like with the guys we have and the coaching staff that we have ... everything is trending upward."
White in 2019 was a first-team All-Pro and earned his first Pro Bowl berth after leading the NFL with six interceptions. He followed that up last season by earning another Pro Bowl berth on his way to being named a second-team All-Pro.
In four seasons (61 regular-season games), White has 15 interceptions.
According to Pro Football Focus, "17.1% of the targets into his coverage have resulted in either a pass breakup or interception over his career, a top-five mark among qualifiers at the position."
That's the main reason PFF ranks him seventh among the NFL's outside corners heading into the 2021 season.
Bucky Brooks of NFL.com ranks White slightly higher, at No. 5.
"Coaches opting for substance over sizzle will love White's game," Brooks wrote. "The Bills' CB1 is a blue-collar worker on the island with the instincts, awareness and anticipation to shine in the zone-heavy scheme employed by head coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier.
The Bills head to camp this week seeking to determine the other starting outside cornerback. How that competition shakes out will no doubt have an effect on White's production.
Incumbent Levi Wallace, second-year player Dane Jackson, slot corner Taron Johnson and rookies Rachad Wildgoose and Olaijah Griffin are among those in the battle.
The Bills likely felt good enough about their options there to avoid a bidding war with the Philadelphia Eagles for the services of free agent Steven Nelson, who signed with the Eagles on Sunday.
They feel totally secure with White, a team leader in his athletic prime who is poised to help the Bills reach the next level.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
