Christian Benford

Yeah.

The leader, it feels like defensively, especially in the secondary room has been Christian Benford.

The way that a guy who never spoke for three years, more than a couple of words was like a notch above Milano.

When it came to speaking is now the one firing up cornerbacks before practice leading that secondary, uh, We haven't talked about him, you know, yet tonight.

When he gets out there on the field, he'll be better.

But then behind him is two really young players too.

So that's the part of the defense that is concerning because there's only really one proven corner on the team, and that's Christian Benford.

Honestly, I can't stress enough, Dan.

When you look at this matchup for when Buffalo is on offense, what matchup do you think wins the game for Buffalo?

I think the most important matchup looking at the Buffalo defense versus the Texans offense is going to be Christian Benford shadowing Nico Collins.

I was a huge Keishon booty fan coming out of college.

I had him as like my white super five in that class.

I think he is still going to be a bit on the struggle getting on the same page with CJ Stroud.

I think the passing game in general is, is going to funnel a lot through Nico Collins, and he's going to be the catalyst to whether or not that passing game is going to be successful.

And you have one of the best corners in the league in Christian Benford, easily top 10 in my book.

In some weeks, he's top five.

I would imagine they're probably gonna bracket some coverage his way.

Benford may follow him around.

The la- I think that's another thing that might be different.

McDermott-

Yeah.

They kinda had their sides and it was a zone, it didn't really matter.

With Jim Leonard, uh, is Benford gonna shadow the number one? So, that'll be interesting to see as well.

So yeah, uh, they're gonna...

And they, they take that with a grain of salt, but, The Bills typically don't ever have very many players on there, which to me says that that's peer versus peer, right? So this year you had Dawkins, Josh Allen, and James Cook, which I think was the guys that were on there last year, was the same three, right? And I'm not saying it matters if we have top 100 players, but what stars do the Bills have? because when you look at all these executive polls and all this stuff that comes out, like there's no bills on there anywhere except Josh Allen, maybe James Cook and some honorable mention guys like Dion Dawkins.

And like, I don't know, like I'm going, I'm kind of going in like all the way around to get back to a point here, but can this coaching staff develop stars? Like is Christian Benford a star? I know he's a good corner, but, You know what I mean? But can they unlock something else in him to where he is a top three, top five corner? Is Ed Oliver one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL? What is Greg Rousseau? Is he going to be a guy that we've been waiting five years for a breakout for? What's your thoughts on that? Can this coaching staff – and do – do the bills have the right guys that can become stars? You know what I mean? Like it's, it's like a double-edged sword with the, however you want to stack it up and look at it and digest it.

I

talked to me in February.

And I want to start with to cornerback position.

I feel really good about Christian Benford.

I feel really good about DeAlford.

I don't feel great right now about CB2.

How do you feel about that position right now?

No, I think it's good to pinpoint and start there with that position because I absolutely agree.

I think early in the season especially, those coordinators will, I don't know if they'll necessarily shy away from Christian Benford completely, but yeah, whether it is Maxwell Harrison or IGB, he will be the most targeted cornerback, I think, on this roster.

Now, I'm of the belief, and maybe I'm in the minority, I have more faith in Max Harrison than maybe what his summer would indicate.

Expectations from the Buffalo Bills defense.

You know, Joe Brady was out today and he was talking about Nico Collins, I don't know if it was the quote was total package or whatever it was, but I think Christian Benford's got to go out there and shut down Nico Collins.

Help over the top, of course, with the safety.

But if that's the case, I mean, receivers get out, receivers make plays, but through the course of this game, can you limit him to under six catches? Can you limit him to under 80 yards? I know it's a lot.

22.7 for the Bills, that was around, you know, bottom 10, bottom 12 in the league, below average, and it ties into what we have for our bold prediction, which is that we think one of their cornerbacks is going to adjust to this new scheme and actually make one of the all-pro teams.

So James, on our AFC East preview episode, we talked a little bit about Christian Benford, and I asked you, "Is he going to be in more of the Sir'Tane role, or is he going to be in more of the Jaquan McMillan or Riley Moss role?" You said Sir'Tane, and that prompted me to do a little bit more digging, and in '25, Benford allowed 0.8 yards per snap in coverage.

That was top 10 amongst corners.

If you take out his awful week one performance against Baltimore, he might have already been one of the best cornerbacks in football.

I don't think this is an overly bold take, but I think that Christian Benford makes one of the all-pro teams in 2026.

Totally.

There were four different games last year where he allowed zero receptions, tied for the most among corners.

And we like a number of players at Oliver.

certainly Christian Benford, the safeties for a lot of reason, and there are players we dislike.

And I don't know how much, whether it's Sean McDermott or Jim Leonard, if at all, makes a difference.

Yeah, that's a good point.