Bills playmaking CB named one of NFL’s best at his position

The Buffalo Bills had a rough start to the 2023 NFL season when former All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White tore his Achilles tendon midway through the team’s Week 4 game against the Miami Dolphins. The injury, which was White’s second significant lower-body injury in three years, forced the defensive end to miss the remainder of the campaign, leaving Buffalo with a significant hole in its secondary.

The Bills quickly made up for his absence by acquiring another lockout-caliber cornerback, trading for Green Bay Packers defensive end Rasul Douglas at the 2023 trade deadline. The veteran, who has had a mid-career breakout in recent seasons, slotted in admirably, starting eight games and recording 29 tackles, eight pass deflections and four interceptions. He kept Buffalo’s perennially strong secondary running, making a significant contribution to a defense that finished sixth in the NFL against the pass.

Douglas’ excellence has been recognized by CBS Sports reporter Jared Dubin, who recently named the 29-year-old one of the league’s best defensive backs. In a recent article ranking the NFL’s top 20 cornerbacks, Dubin ranked the Buffalo defender 19th.

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“Douglas was a fairly harmless contributor in the early years of his career, but over the last three seasons, he’s been a bomb in coverage,” Dubin wrote. “He’s deflected 22 passes and intercepted 10 passes for 10 touchdowns in that span, allowing passer ratings of 43.7, 84.0 and 70.5 over that time. He’s shown the ability to play both outside and in the slot, which is a nice bonus.”

Douglas’ stellar play gave Bills management the confidence to move on from White this offseason, as they released the starting pitcher in March with a post-June 1 designation. The move allowed Buffalo to save some cap space that they could soon allocate to Douglas; the defensive back is entering the final year of his contract and could soon be in line for an extension.

The former third-round pick is the only Bills player on Dubin’s list; Christian Benford, who has started 19 games in his professional career and generally looked pretty solid, did not earn a spot. That could change in the coming appearances, however, as the former Villanova Wildcat has been a player on the rise over the past two seasons; he has recorded four pass deflections and two interceptions over the final four games of the 2023 campaign, perhaps suggesting that he is evolving — like Douglas — into a playmaking role.

Douglas and Benford will look to master Buffalo’s cornerback positions again this season as part of a reworked secondary that is expected to feature two new starters at safety.

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