Brandon Beane isn’t hiding how much the Bills believe in Maxwell Hairston.
The Buffalo general manager made it clear that the second-year cornerback has earned a real opportunity heading into the season, even with the team still sorting through how it wants to handle the spot if Hairston’s groin injury lingers. For now, Hairston is listed as a starter on Buffalo’s initial depth chart, a sign that the organization sees him as more than just a developmental piece.
“We have a lot of confidence in (Hairston),” Beane said. “I think IGB has done a really good job.
If we didn’t have confidence in him, we’d just sit him down and throw IGB in. He’s a young player that’s gonna continue to push his way, and Max knows that he’ll have to play at a certain level, or there’s a young man here that’s ready to showcase kind of what he can do.”
That confidence comes after Hairston logged 11 games last season and turned in two interceptions, 18 total tackles, and five pass deflections. Those numbers were enough to get the coaching staff’s attention, and now Buffalo is counting on him to take another step in 2026.
The injury situation hasn’t changed the team’s approach much, at least publicly. Beane said the Bills are handling it on a day-to-day basis and aren’t locking themselves into one plan.
“I don’t really know at this point what we’d do,” Beane said. “I think we’re just kind of taking it one day, one week at a time.
I wouldn’t want to put us in a box of saying we would or wouldn’t do. I think anything would be on the table.
Whatever we think can help us win. If it’s a platoon, we’ll do it.
If it’s just one guy, we will do that.”
However it shakes out, Buffalo has clearly built some of its secondary plans around Hairston. The question now is when he’ll be ready to get back on the field and show why the Bills are so confident in him.
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