How much should Bills expect backup cornerbacks to play?
And a quick study can provide the answer
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 06: Ohio State Buckeyes CB Davison Igbinosun (1) during the Big Ten Championship football game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Ohio State Buckeyes on December 6, 2025 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The most astonishing comment from the post-2026 NFL Draft press conference of Buffalo Bills president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane was his take on the cornerback position. “As we started this draft, I thought that the biggest hole on our roster was corner,” said Beane in front of the assembled media at One Bills Drive following the initially surprising second-round selection of cornerback Davison Igbinosun.
In my post-draft question-answering article , I laid out the outside cornerback depth chart before the 2026 draft. It was a group headlined by entrenched starters Christian Benford and Maxwell Hairston yet featured Te’Corey Couch and MJ Devonshire as their immediate backups. Yikes.
In that piece, I wrote, “the cornerback spot was not discussed often entering the draft cycle as a position in dire need of depth, and it should’ve been. ” And, I, myself, was absolutely at fault from January – April for not noticing the seismic depth issue the Bills had at boundary cornerback entering this draft. Now with Igbinosun in tow, and on the heels of Beane’s direct comment on the cornerback position, Matt Warren suggested I look into the recent history of how frequently the Bills’ depth corners have actually played.
These are the seminal findings from my research: From 2016 – 2025, the Bills’ fourth cornerback averaged playing on 35. 6% of the team’s defensive snaps during the regular season. The lowest snap percentage for this fourth cornerback came in 2024, when Kaiir Elam appeared on 27.