The Buffalo Bills currently have two of the three starting cornerback positions locked in for the 2025 season, with one vacancy remaining. Christian Benford looks to start on the outside with Taron Johnson in the slot. The Bills will have a competition for the CB2/outside corner position between two leading candidates, including a veteran Pro Bowler.
Buffalo Bills’ former first-round pick has had a rough past two seasons
Tre’Davious White suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in Week 4 of the 2023 season, causing the Buffalo Bills to release him during the last offseason, and he signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Rams. He began the 2024 season as the starting cornerback but struggled in the first four weeks, as the Rams made him a healthy scratch for the next four games. The Baltimore Ravens acquired White during the NFL Trade Deadline, but he had a minimal role, only playing 152 (34%) of snaps in seven games.
Also Read: Los Angeles Rams: Traded Pro Bowl Defender Away in Exchange for Draft Compensation
The two-time Pro Bowler reunited with his former team, signing a one-year deal.
Buffalo Bills veteran Pro Bowler will compete for the starting job
So far, both Tre’Davious White and Maxwell Hairston have split first-team reps with the starting defense throughout OTAs and mandatory minicamp. According to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic, the CB2/outside cornerback position is “wide open” with no clear-cut favorite. Buscaglia expects the competition to continue into training camp, and the winner may not be determined until the start of the regular season.
“The battle to be the Bills’ second starting cornerback is wide open. The team did quite a lot this offseason to address the position, signing two players with a combined 122 starts in Buffalo in Tre’Davious White and Dane Jackson, and then drafting Maxwell Hairston in the first round and Dorian Strong in the sixth. The competition likely comes down to White and Hairston. White struggled a bit in spring workouts but knows the defense well. Hairston has the raw ability to play any coverage they want, but the Bills are coaching him hard, and he still has a way to go to be totally in tune with the scheme. The battle could go up right to the start of the regular season,” Buscaglia said.
Tre’Davious White is excited to return to the team that drafted him
“So, that was the thing that hurt me the most ’cause I felt like, if it wasn’t that way, that I’d still be a Buffalo Bill going into Year 9 with one hat under my name, and that’s something that I always wanted,” White said, via Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN.
“But moving forward, I got a bigger appreciation. Man, this place is so special, so special to my family too, that this is the only place that I really want to be and do it the right way.”
