MITCH HORUCY
Asst. Sports Editor
2025 NFL Draft.
Image property of the Buffalo Bills. Image property of the Buffalo Bills.
As said on the ESPN broadcast, Maxwell Hairston is trading his Kentucky blue for Buffalo Bills blue.
At pick number 30, the Bills went with speed on the perimeter of their defense, as Hairston ran a 2025 NFL Combine-best 4.28-second 40-yard dash.
He comes in a little undersized at 5’11” and 183 pounds, but General Manager Brandon Beane said he’s into the 190-pound range now.
The Bills’ weight room was also given an A+ in the 2024 player team report cards, giving Hairston the tools to put on more weight.
As a prospect, he’s a guy who can be a replacement for Rasul Douglas, while giving the team a bit more versatility.
The straight line speed is there, but it translates on the field as well, which isn’t always the case with other players.
His change of direction and fluidity are elite, which allows him to excel in both man and zone coverage.
When targeted, he is exceptional at playing the ball, with three pick-sixes over the course of his career at Kentucky.
One of the questions some people have about Hairston is his tackling ability.
While size isn’t the entire equation, adding in a subpar technique as well is not a great combination.
Head coach Sean McDermott has always had above-average tacklers in the secondary, so there’s hope Hairston can get coached up.
This past season, he missed five games with a shoulder injury, but Beane is confident that he’ll be ready to go for next season.
In his 2023 campaign, a year in which he didn’t deal with any injuries, he had 66 tackles and five interceptions.
He also gets to work with Tre’Davious White, who recently returned to the Bills.
White came into the league in 2017 with very similar measurements and size, and he became an All-Pro cornerback.
I’m a fan of this pick, even though I wanted him at pick 56.
He has a high ceiling, his intangibles are there — it will be interesting to see if he can put it all together.
The rest of the draft had some fireworks starting early in the night, with the Jaguars moving up from five to two to take wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter.
The pick itself wasn’t surprising, as I had Hunter as my top prospect, but the trade is what had people shocked.
The Jaguars gave up their fifth overall pick along with pick 36, pick 126 and their first-round pick next year.
Hunter comes to Jacksonville and forms a tremendous wide receiver duo with Brian Thomas Jr.
This is the last year of quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s rookie contract before his five-year, $275 million contract kicks in.
Having both Thomas Jr. and Hunter on rookie contracts for the next few seasons is great for the team, but also puts even more pressure on Lawrence to live up to his first overall pick expectations.
Another big surprise was quarterback Shedeur Sanders falling out of the first round.
Before the draft, DraftKings had Sanders going in the top 10 at -170 odds.
Many people, including myself, thought he was going to be taken by the Steelers at 21, but they decided to take defensive tackle Derrick Harmon.
Even when the Giants traded back into the first round, I thought there was a chance it’d be for him, but they went with Jaxson Dart, another surprise.
Shockingly, Sanders fell all the way to the fifth round, where he was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the 144th pick.
A final surprise was Michigan cornerback Will Johnson dropping out of the first round as well.
Even after the season ended, I thought he was a consensus top-15 pick.
He did deal with a toe injury, as well as a knee injury that seems to be a nagging issue.
The talent is there; he has the modern-day NFL cornerback build, but the injuries must be worse than fans know for him to slide this far.
For a full review of the Bills draft, head over to The Leader website, fredonialeader.org.