ORCHARD PARK — The Buffalo Bills signed Christian Benford to a four-year extension last year. Soon after, they chose Maxwell Hairston in the first round.
Tre'Davious White is a free agent, Dane Jackson was released and Dorian Strong may not play again. So depth cornerback was a need heading into the NFL Draft, but it seemed their starters were locked in.
So naturally, general manager Brandon Beane traded the 66th and 182nd picks to the Denver Broncos to move up four spots to select Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun . The 6-foot-3, 189-pound cornerback started 53 of 56 career games for the Buckeyes and Ole Miss (2022), including during Ohio State's run to the 2024 national championship.
Beane claims Igbinosun was the best player on the board, and rather than waiting, the Bills had enough draft capital to move up. General managers always say they follow the board no matter who the pick is, but the first two days of the draft were an example of the Bills actually doing so.
They also appear to view this draft as one to acquire depth that can turn into starting-caliber players rather than early starters.
The Bills exhausted their graded first-rounders midway through Thursday and began seeking options to trade back. Not only drafting, but trading up for Igbinosun is unusual — even in a draft with below-average top-end talent — in the second round. And after starting the day with three fourth-rounders and two fifths, the Bills didn't use any of them to hop back into the third round as it was assumed beforehand.
"Corners are premium positions if you look at who makes the top dollars in the league," Beane said. "And if you look at our season last year — and it's happened before — those guys are all going to play. … It's a long season, and when you have corners that are not capable, they get bull's eyes on them real fast, especially when you're playing primetime quarterbacks. … If there's another good corner tomorrow, we'll take him."
Igbinosun had impressive measurables for his size, running a 4.45-second 40-yard dash and had a 34-inch vertical leap. Because of his size and 78 ⅝-inch wingspan, Igbinsun was used as a press man-to-man cornerback in college, but struggled with other assignments.
While Igbinosun smothered receivers on deep routes, covering change-of-direction routes was a challenge, as was recognizing routes in off-coverage. When Igbinosun got beaten or his technique faltered, he had a propensity to grab receivers and it resulted in a staggering 30 penalties during his college career.
"Obviously that was something that I needed to improve on my game," Igbinosun said. "That was kind of holding me back a little bit. So I just made that emphasis a focus point in the offseason with my coaches at Ohio State, just watching the film and just seeing a lot of the situations I was in wasn't that I was necessarily beat. I was in great position a lot of times. I just needed to relax and play with poise."
Beane isn't wrong about the likelihood of Igbinosun — or whoever their No. 3 cornerback is — playing at some point during the season. Benford missed three games last season and has never played more than 15 games, while White also missed games and Hairston not only missed the first six games after an MCL injury in training camp, but he missed the playoffs with an injury suffered in the regular-season finale.
And when White got hurt in the final minute of the AFC divisional round, the Broncos promptly tested Jackson on his lone play of the game and scored a go-ahead touchdown in the 33-30 overtime win.
The Bills also had injuries on the edge last season with Michael Hoecht and Joey Bosa , to the point rookie defensive tackle T.J. Sanders played extensively at defensive end on early downs late in the season. Those are not only among the positions paid the most, but they are hard to hide, offering an example of how the Bills hold positional value.
Off-ball linebacker appears to be a need for the Bills, whether it's to replace Dorian Williams as a starter or to be a backup. Beane insisted if there was a linebacker higher on their board than Igbinosun, they would have drafted him. But only one linebacker was selected in Thursday's first round.
The Bills also passed on nose tackles like Ohio State's Kayden McDonald and Texas Tech's Lee Hunter during both of their second-round picks. Beane mentioned last year that traditional 0-technique nose tackles don't hold the same value because they only play one or two downs.
His opinion clearly hasn't changed and it also showed in selecting Clemson edge rusher T.J. Parker 35th overall. There were speed rushers available — like Texas A&M's Cashius Howell and Oklahoma's R. Mason Thomas — but they went with Parker, a more versatile player.
"Some guys are two-down players. Some guys are (designated pass rushers). I feel like T.J. has proven over the last couple years to be a three-down (player)," Beane said. "And I just think that adds more value."
The Bills enter the final three rounds Saturday with picks 101, 125 and 126 in the fourth round, picks 167 and 168 in the fifth round and No. 220 in the seventh round.
