Hairston, Igbinosun and the No. 2 CB conversation

When training camp began, the starting cornerback job was rightfully wide open.

After all, the Bills’ realistic depth chart consisted of their locked-in top cornerback, Christian Benford, and then some young players with high variability: second-year defender Maxwell Hairston and rookie second-round pick Davison Igbinosun.

Hairston came back on the fly as a rookie from a multi-month injury at training camp and immediately filtered in for defensive reps. While there were flashy moments, the consistency of the performances was altogether uneven. Fast forward to 2026, Hairston has always been viewed as the odds-on favorite to be the starter, though the inconsistencies in camp followed, along with another camp injury — this time a groin ailment.

That, combined with Igbinosun’s steady progress once the pads went on in August, and being a direct improvement over Hairston in dealing with physical receivers and in run support, is presenting extremely logical questions that the Bills have to be pondering inside the building, too. To Hairston’s credit, his ability to turn and run gives him a higher ceiling than Igbinosun.

After the Bills’ preseason finale, Brady said succinctly that Hairston is the starter. Regardless, there is some wiggle room there, as Hairston’s struggles and Igbinosun’s progress bring up the conversation of whether a timeshare is possible in Week 1 — with Hairston being the technical starter.

“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.”

Beane also commented on how good of a spring Hairston had, so it appears they want to give him every opportunity to be the guy they hoped for when they used their top pick on him. Still, it’s hard to ignore what has been going on since Hairston returned from the groin injury, which leads back to the possibility of a non-full-time role.

“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.”

It wasn’t a flat-out “no” on the idea, and it’s even more interesting that the Bills aren’t shying away from Hairston needing to prove his spot.

His performance and how the Bills handle that position will be one of the most intriguing parts of their Week 1 showdown in Houston.

Week 1 gamesmanship? Several key starters return

When Beane met with the media on Tuesday, he did so more than an hour before practice began, and it was the first real chance to get injury clarification since the team’s preseason ended. The Bills had a handful of starters and key role players sitting out during last week’s practices, including a pair of key starting defenders — safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and inside linebacker Terrel Bernard.

Gardner-Johnson has been going through “something different” of an injury than what he did when he injured his calf early in camp. Meanwhile, Bernard’s undisclosed injury kept him out of on-field work last week. In both cases, Beane didn’t give absolute certainty of their Week 1 availability. On Gardner-Johnson, Beane said, “We’ll know more next week,” and on Bernard, they want to get him back to full health. “Hopefully before game one. We’ll see,” Beane said.

The update on both players seemed slightly concerning for Week 1, though when the Bills opened up their doors to practice, Gardner-Johnson and Bernard were going through all individual reps — and they weren’t alone. The Bills also saw the return of defensive lineman Ed Oliver, center Connor McGovern and wide receiver Keon Coleman. In all five cases, returning to practice more than a week before the season opener is an extremely promising sign.