SPEED. SMARTS. SHUTDOWN POTENTIAL: Meet the Bills' Secret Weapon in the Secondary

His offerings go well beyond the elite 4.28 speed that he displayed at the NFL Combine.

In fact, there are multiple reasons why the Buffalo Bills viewed Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston as worthy of a first-round draft pick.

Not only does Hairston play what was a position of need for the Bills this offseason, he has a rare ability that makes him a potential perfect fit for a Sean McDermott-orchestrated defense. Buffalo has a tendency to employ a zone coverage scheme the majority of the time, and the first-round rookie showed a mastery of the scheme on film.

"Ultimately, you drafted a corner that can play in both zone and man, and I think, is relatively advanced in zone coverage concepts for college corners, who are not usually that good at it," said NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell.

The 5-foot-11 Hairston, who claims to have bumped his weight up into the 190-pound range since previously weighing in a 183, shows a high football IQ on tape.

"I thought he understood the mandates of zone coverage, pattern recognition, had a good feel for spatial awareness. In every zone, there's conflict areas, there's stress areas, and coaches talk about that all the time, that they're trying to minimize those conflict and stress areas," said Cosell. "I thought he had a really good feel for that in zone coverage, and we know how important that is in Sean McDermott's defense because they do play a lot of zone concepts."

Jan 28, 2025; Mobile, AL, USA; American team defensive back Maxwell Hairston of Kentucky (11) approaches the line during Senior Bowl practice for the American team at Hancock Whitney Stadium. / Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

As the No. 30 overall selection, Hairston will seemingly have the chance to win Buffalo's starting cornerback job opposite Christian Benford.

“A guy like Max, you don't know that he's going to fall that far. We had him in for a 30 visit, been around him a few times, great young man," said Bills' general manager Brandon Beane. "He'll add, obviously, speed to our DB room, and we think he'll pair well with what we already have."

Kentucky Wildcats defensive back Maxwell Hairston (31) celebrates his tackle against Akron in Saturday's game at Kroger Field in Lexington. Hairston had seven tackles in the game. Sept. 16, 2023 / Matt Stone/Louisville Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images