The Bills' Key Addition Who Changes Everything This Offseason

Before the start of the 2026 NFL Draft, Maxwell Hairston was a shoo-in to start at cornerback opposite Christian Benford.

However, things have since changed drastically, as the Bills’ second-round selection of Ohio State CB Davison Igbinosun has created competition for Buffalo’s 2025 first-rounder. There is now expected to be an all-out positional battle between the two players at training camp, where veterans are set to report on July 28, with the first practice slated for July 29.

Igbinsun is an aggressive, physical player who thrives in man-to-man coverage, which the Bills are expected to deploy more of this season under first-year defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard. Hairston is a speedster whose strength also lies in man coverage, but his lack of reliability last season likely created doubt in the Bills’ minds that he can indeed be trusted as the team’s long-term answer at the position.

Hairston missed the first six games of the 2025 campaign due to a knee injury and ended the year on the mend, missing his team’s two playoff games, including a divisional round defeat at the hands of the Denver Broncos, due to an ankle injury. He also missed five games the year before in 2024, his final season at Kentucky, when he sustained a significant shoulder injury that forced him to the sideline.

It will be interesting to see how this camp competition, which seemed to develop out of thin air, is decided come this summer and if Hairston can remain healthy throughout.

Igbinosun is not the perfect prospect for the Bills

Ohio State Buckeyes cornerback Davison Igbinosun (1) celebrates an interception during the first half of the Big Ten Conference championship game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Dec. 6, 2025. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While Igbinosun has traits that excited scouts during the predraft process, there is also reason to be concerned with his ability to seize control of a contributing role for the Bills defense in Year 1 of his professional career. Beyond his issues with penalties throughout his collegiate career, his performance in his final season with the Buckeyes was up and down. He finished the year with the best Pro Football Focus coverage grade of his career [79.9], but there were games throughout the year in which he failed to measure up.

One of his best games came against an inferior opponent in Rutgers, while his worst performances of the year by PFF’s standards came against his team’s most challenging matchups of the year, against Texas and Michigan, in which he earned coverage grades of 57.6 and 58.6, respectively.

There’s hope Igbinosun’s play style will transition well to the professional level, but he will have to prove he can perform and do so with the discipline needed to stack up against top-level NFL competition. With that said, so will Hairston, who allowed an opposing passer rating of 94.3 when targeted in coverage, according to Next Gen Stats.

I’m expecting a true back-and-forth from these two players throughout training camp, which should produce quite the show.

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