How might Bills use CB Maxwell Hairston against Chiefs after solid NFL debut?
The first-year defensive end saw his first game action after sustaining an injury early in training camp.
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Buffalo Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston celebrates after a game against the Carolina Panthers. Bob Donnan / Imagn Images
The Bills returned to their usual results, getting a win over the Carolina Panthers and keeping coach Sean McDermott undefeated in the Bills’ first game out of the bye. They are now 5-2 on the season.
The Bills will next have one of their biggest games of the year, at home against the surging Kansas City Chiefs. But there is a lot to learn from their win over the Panthers, especially when it comes to the Bills’ first-round pick.
After studying the All-22, here’s a deep dive on the team’s top rookie and what he showed in the first game of his NFL career.
What to make of Maxwell Hairston’s debut
McDermott has done his best to temper expectations for rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston and his return to play. Hairston, who suffered a knee injury early in training camp, slowly worked his way back. But once the Bills went to their bye, the team hit the accelerator on Hairston. All of a sudden, they opened his 21-day practice window on the Monday before their Week 8 game. And after attempting to lower expectations beforehand, the Bills activated Hairston to the 53-man roster only five days later. Then, during the game, they bucked the trend of taking it slow, throwing Hairston into an immediate split-series timeshare at the second cornerback spot just days after he had practiced for the first time since July.It was somewhat of a surprise to see Hairston play as much as he did, 27 snaps in total, considering his injury situation and the Bills’ efforts to temper expectations. However, the Bills had been slumping on defense and had the bye week to figure out what they could do to improve, and with Hairston’s step forward in recovery, it was the perfect storm. Tre’Davious White has struggled for much of the season. For as much good as he’s done throughout his Bills career, his best days appear to be behind him.
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That has opened the door for an inexperienced rookie who hasn’t practiced much. McDermott has said in the past that he prefers to have his starting cornerbacks in place for the entire game, rather than splitting time. However, once again, desperate times call for desperate measures, and Hairston now has a clear opportunity to become the full-time starter. Analyzing how he played — even beyond the things you see on broadcast — will be vital in determining if Hairston can take the full-time job and when he’s ready to do it.
There were several noteworthy aspects of Hairston’s first game in a Bills uniform, but the first was how the team deployed him. The Bills took steps to set the rookie up for a successful debut. The most notable step was where they lined him up, and above all else, who they didn’t have him line up against. Up until the game reached garbage time, when the Bills subbed out top cornerback Christian Benford in the fourth quarter, Hairston did not line up on the same side as Panthers rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, their clear top receiver, a single time in 20 snaps. Benford traveled with McMillan to whichever side he went, even if Benford didn’t line up directly in front of McMillan. Once the Bills subbed out Benford in the fourth quarter and went with Hairston and White, Hairston was on the same side as McMillan for three snaps, as the Bills used a left-right strategy, with White on the defensive left side and Hairston on the right. When White was with Benford, White was only on the same side as McMillan twice. Benford traveled with McMillan for almost the entire game.
The Bills also slightly shifted their coverage percentages based on which cornerback was in the game. When White was in the game with Benford, the Bills were in zone on 67 percent of the Panthers’ dropbacks — and in man coverage on 7 of those 21 plays. When it was Hairston with Benford, the Bills’ zone rate decreased to 54 percent on Panthers’ dropbacks, with Hairston getting only one fewer man-coverage snap than White (6), despite only being on the field for 13 dropbacks with Benford. That’s significant for the Bills, who are a zone-heavy team. Hairston’s athleticism and catch-up speed are likely reasons why the Bills might feel more comfortable in man coverage. This early in Hairston’s career, allowing him to rely on his reactive skills and athleticism could have been another tactic to set him up for success.
Overall, I thought it was a solid debut for Hairston. Let’s dig into the play on the field.
Hairston showing some play strength
One of the biggest questions I had was about his physicality, and he answered that immediately. Crashing into blockers, making the tackles, and executing the concepts of forcing runners back into the field of play and toward teammates is an excellent start, especially with how much teams will test the Bills’ run defense. Hairston will miss some tackles just due to size, but the want-to is there.Here are a few examples from the Panthers game.
We’ll start in the first quarter, with Hairston lined up on the defensive right side. Mind you, this was only Hairston’s second snap of the game, and the first defending the run.
Courtesy: NFL+
Hairston, running free off the right edge, saw the entire play developing in front of him. He kept firm eyes on the mesh point between Andy Dalton and running back Rico Dowdle for the confirmed handoff, with a wide receiver approaching his side to block.
Courtesy: NFL+
Seeing the handoff completed and the threat of a reverse gone, Hairston crashes down and takes the fight to the approaching blocking wide receiver. He squares himself up and launches forward, getting the better of the attempted block and forcing Dowdle to squeeze inside.
Courtesy: NFL+
Hairston fights through the block to even get a hand toward Dowdle, but his efforts helped pin Dowdle inside and siphon him right to the awaiting Dorian Williams and Jordan Poyer.
Now, to the play that everyone remembers from Hairston’s debut.
Courtesy: NFL+
What was most impressive from this first half rep was how quickly Hairston realized what was going on. Even as the deepest defender on that side of the hashmark, Hairston saw the swing pass to the receiver, planted his foot in the ground and accelerated forward.
Courtesy: NFL+
This is where his acceleration really shows off, as he saw the play develop and rushed into the sideline alley. Hairston got there quickly enough to square himself up and prepare for contact with the ball carrier.
Courtesy: NFL+
Hairston initiated the contact, and even though it wasn’t a completely clean tackle, he brought the ball carrier down for only a two-yard gain.
Lastly, here’s a rep that showed Hairston doing the right thing, with some room for improvement.
Dowdle rushed to the defensive left side, where Hairston held position against a blocking receiver. He held his ground, kept his arms locked to keep the blocker out of his pads, and positioned himself to take away the sideline. These are all good pieces of run defense from his side.
Courtesy: NFL+
Hairston successfully forced Dowdle to the inside toward the rest of his teammates, got his body in position to try and get through the block and close down on the runner.
Courtesy: NFL+
This is where the rep could have gone from good to great, and why there is room for improvement as a run defender. You can see Hairston get a hand on Dowdle coming off the block from the receiver, but he wasn’t able to disengage quickly enough, which allowed Dowdle mostly free passage. He also could have gotten some help from teammates to stop the run after he forced it inside, so Dowdle moving past Hairston is not totally on him. The run wound up going for 12 yards.
