As the Bills turn the page toward 2026, Maxwell Hairston sits in a spot that could shape both his season and Buffalo’s secondary. The cornerback enters his second year with a chance to claim the CB2 job opposite Christian Benford, but he’ll have to win it again first.
Hairston’s rookie season was never a clean runway. He played in only 11 games after a right knee LCL sprain in training camp kept him out of the first six weeks, and an ankle injury in Week 18 ended his year before the postseason.
Even with the missed time, he logged a 64.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, which placed him 51st among 114 NFL cornerbacks. He also carved out a role next to Tre'Davious White, starting three games and picking off two passes.
Now White is gone, and the opening is there. But the Bills also added rookie second-rounder Davison Igbinosun, a corner with a more physical profile than Hairston’s speed-based game. That means the competition for the spot opposite Benford isn’t going to hand itself to Hairston.
The bigger issue may be how he fits under Jim Leonhard. Hairston came out of Kentucky as a mostly zone corner, and he was originally drafted into Sean McDermott’s zone-heavy system.
Leonhard brings a different flavor. His Broncos were second in the NFL in man rate in 2025, and that could ask Hairston to spend far more time in man coverage than he has before.
That’s the real test heading into 2026: whether Hairston can hold up in man-to-man work well enough to become a steady part of Leonhard’s defense. If he can, the Bills may have something more permanent at corner. If not, the battle for CB2 is just getting started.
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