Now more than ever may be the time for the Buffalo Bills to lock up their CB1.
With the bulk of the free agency frenzy behind him, Bills general manager Brandon Beane can focus on extending players in-house before April’s draft. One name that many in the Buffalo faithful have been lobbying for to get a new deal is cornerback Christian Benford. As he is scheduled to enter the last year of his rookie deal, Benford is slotted to make $3.31 million in 2025, according to Spotrac.
Benford was already in line for a pay raise, but seeing that Derek Stingley Jr. just reset the CB market with a record deal he received Monday, the fourth-year corner has to have his eyes set on landing even more money this offseason.
Benford most likely won’t clear Stingley’s annual average value of $30 million especially after the Texans’ star posted a first-team All-Pro season in 2024. But he will most likely command more than $20 million per season.
Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford (47). | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Jaire Alexander, A.J. Terrell, and Denzel Ward are all currently in that range, and Benford is a younger player than those three and coming off a year where his 82.6 PFF grade ranked higher than all three of their respective grades.
The Benford extension is also crucial considering the state of Buffalo’s CB room. After Benford and former All-Pro nickel Taron Johnson, the CB depth consists of Cam Lewis, Ja’Marcus Ingram, Brandon Codrington, Te’Cory Crouch, Daequan Hardy, and Dane Jackson, who returned to the Bills after one season away in Carolina.
Spotrac projects Benford garnering a four-year deal worth $89.01 million and an AAV of $22.25 million per season. If Beane and his team don’t act fast, that number could keep ballooning up.
