RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesMADISON, WISCONSIN - OCTOBER 18: Davison Igbinosun #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium on October 18, 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Buffalo Bills came into the 2026 offseason with plenty of needs. That’s not necessarily surprising given the fickle nature of the NFL, but for a team that has qualified for the playoffs in each of the last seven seasons, the list of needs seemed to be larger than one would expect. After head coach Sean McDermott was fired, that list of needs grew to include defensive players who could fit a new defensive system, as well.
One of the positions where the team seemed fairly solid on the surface was cornerback; however, a look beyond that top layer of the depth chart showed a troublesome lack of depth. That lack of depth reared its head at the worst possible time for Buffalo last season, and as a result, the Bills and president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane made sure to bolster the defensive secondary this spring.
In today’s installment of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss one of the additions to the depth chart at corner — a rookie with great size and tremendous potential. _____________________________________________________________________________
Name: Davison Igbinosun
Number: 21
Position: CB
Height/Weight: 6’2”, 193 pounds
Age: 22 (23 on 4/11/2027)
Experience/Draft: R; selected by Buffalo in the second round (No. 62 overall) of the 2026 NFL Draft
College: Ohio State
Acquired: Second-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Igbinosun enters the first year of his rookie contract, a four-year pact worth $7,949,010 overall. For the 2026 season, Igbinosun’s cap hit is $1,445,274 if he makes the 53-man roster. If he’s released, Buffalo will carry a dead-cap charge of $5,738,907 for the season.
2025 Recap: Igbinosun was once again a key contributor to a top-flight Buckeyes defense. He started all 14 games, notching 53 tackles, half a tackle for loss, eight pass breakups, and two interceptions. For his efforts, he was named First-Team All-Big Ten Conference for the first time ; he was honorable mention in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Igbinosun’s play on the field had already made him a solid NFL prospect, but his performance at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine and Ohio State’s Pro Day solidified that notion. At the combine, he ran a 4.45-second 40-yard dash, and he leapt 34” in the vertical jump and 10’ in the broad jump. At Ohio State’s Pro Day, he leapt 35” in the vertical jump and 10’4” in the broad jump; he also ran the 20-yard shuttle in 4.32 seconds and completed the three-cone drill in 7.07 seconds. He did not complete the bench press at either workout.
Positional outlook: Igbinosun is one of five players listed at cornerback on the current roster. Dee Alford, Christian Benford, Maxwell Hairston, and Toriano Pride Jr. are the others. Te’Cory Couch, Kani Walker, Jordan Dunbar, and Jordan Hancock are all listed at defensive back, but they each either play corner or bounce between playing corner and safety.
2026 Offseason: Igbinosun is healthy and he participated in all offseason workouts.
2026 Season outlook: Buffalo has repeatedly said that Igbinosun was drafted not due to a lack of satisfaction with last year’s top draft choice, Maxwell Hairston, but instead due to an overall need for more depth at the position. Looking at the selection through that lens, well, it would be nice to have someone to turn to other than Dane Jackson in the fourth quarter of a playoff game. However, it’s hard not to wonder whether Igbinosun has a legitimate chance at earning starter’s reps given that we’re looking at a new defensive system coached by a new person in defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.
Does this mean that I expect Igbinosun to come in and usurp Hairston right away? No, it doesn’t, and I’ll go one step further in saying that Hairston is a clear-cut starter on this defense. In limited action last season, he was fantastic. His injuries were both of the flukey variety, as a buckled knee during training camp caused him to miss time before his season ended prematurely thanks to someone rolling up on his ankle at the end of a running play in the regular-season finale. In between, Hairston put together some good reps in both the run game and the passing game, and he showed me enough that he deserves to come into this season as a starter.
Could Igbinosun push for playing time? Perhaps in the future or as an injury replacement, but he’ll have to fix one thing first: penalties. In college, he was flagged an absurd 30 times , which reminds me of another former high draft choice at corner in Kaiir Elam. I’m not saying Igbinosun and Elam are destined for similar fates, nor am I saying that they’re similar athletes. What is similar, though, is their tendency to grab when plays go south, a tendency that could lead to devastating consequences in the NFL.
Igbinosun is a lock for the roster, and his likely best role in 2026 is as a sub-package player or an injury replacement as he learns the ropes. If he can remove that “grabby” tendency from his game, he has a chance to be an outstanding pro corner. As the old adage goes, “You can never have enough corners.” Over the last few years, Buffalo has learned the hard way just how true that is.
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