Brandon Beane aggressively defends Bills' rookie CB facing civil lawsuit

He was 17 years old at the time of the accusation, and, subsequently, he was legally cleared of any wrongdoing.

Now 21 years old, Buffalo Bills' first-round rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston faces a civil lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct back in 2021.

The Bills were aware of the prior allegations during the draft process, and Hairston would not have been invited to the NFL Combine if there was any substance to the claims. General manager Brandon Beane directly addressed the matter on April 25.

“I mean, he's an impeccable kid, and we did a lot of research. Yeah, I think all teams were aware of the Title IX thing. That was fully investigated by the school," said Beane. "He even volunteered to do a polygraph and had notes. It was one of those where there was zero information saying that this actually happened to what the accusation was."

The GM's comments came before Hairston was slapped with the civil lawsuit, which was filed on July 1 in U.S. District Court in Kentucky. Three weeks earlier, on June 13, the Bills announced they had officially signed Hairston to his rookie contract, reportedly worth $15.25 million total.

The topic of the lawsuit resurfaced while Beane hosted a press conference at training camp on Wednesday. The general manager sounded as confident as ever that the accusations are completely unfounded, and he even hinted that Hairston may turn out to be the true victim in this situation.

"This happened to this young man over four years ago. He gave up his phone, like, to prove some of it. He took a polygraph test. Like, this kid didn't run from anything. He answered every single thing. We have to remember in society that people can make accusations and do things, and I have no idea what the agenda is there. But I can tell you, every stone we turned over, every door we looked behind, this is a very good young man. A young man you would let in your house, you would let watch your kids."

Beane continued to insist that Hairston's reputation deserves to be defended.

"I think we need to remember in the world, like sometimes these guys, I'm not going to get into it, but we see these accusations," said Beane. "Sometimes, these guys can be victims, too. They make a lot of money. And I just want to make sure nobody, rarely do people defend them. And that's hard for me in this seat sometimes because I've seen it. We've had it here with a player here a few years ago that's no longer here that was wrongly accused."

Beane was undoubtedly referring to punter Matt Araiza, who the Bills drafted at No. 180 overall in 2022. Amidst sexual assault claims that were eventually found to be unsubstantiated, Buffalo, under public pressure, released Araiza prior to the regular season. After his name was subsequently cleared, he eventually returned to the NFL and now starts for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Apr 24, 2025; Green Bay, WI, USA; Kentucky Wildcats cornerback Maxwell Hairston is selected as the No. 30 pick by the Buffalo Bills during the NFL Draft at Lambeau Field | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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