Player
Christian Benford
CB · Bills
Christian Benford: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
From a 6th-round Villanova pick to the Bills' CB1 in 3 years — 32 career PDs and counting.
TrendBenford by season (BUF)
| Season | Tackles | PDs | INTs | FFs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 39 | 10 | 2 | 3 |
| 2024 | 54 | 11 | 3 | 2 |
| 2025 | 35 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
Benford was drafted 185th overall (6th round) by Buffalo in 2022 out of Villanova — an FCS corner whose tape was good enough that the Bills banked a Day 3 pick on him. By his second year, he was starting. By his third, he was the team's CB1.
Four seasons in, he's piled up 144 solo tackles, 32 PDs, 8 INTs, and 5 forced fumbles — production curves you'd expect from a Day 2 pick, not the 6th round.
32 career pass defenses + 8 INTs through age 25 — top-15 ball production at the position.
MilestoneThrough 4 NFL seasons, Benford has 32 PDs and 8 INTs. Among CBs drafted in 2022 (his class), only a handful have produced more in the same window.
The count is even more impressive because 2022 was a backup year — most of those PDs and INTs were piled up in just 3 starter seasons (2023-25). On a per-starter-season basis, he's averaging 9 PDs and 2.3 INTs per year.
Week 14, 2025 vs CIN: pick-6 off Joe Burrow — 63 yards, his first career return TD.
AnomalyIn Week 14 of the 2025 season vs the Bengals, Benford intercepted a Joe Burrow pass intended for Ja'Marr Chase at the BUF 37 and ran it back 63 yards for a touchdown — the first pick-6 of his career.
It was also one of only a handful of pick-6s thrown by Burrow in his career. The single play swung the Bills' win probability by roughly +30% at the moment of the catch.
2024 was his career year: 11 PDs + 3 INTs + 2 FFs — top-15 CB ball production.
SplitBenford 2024 splits
| Stat | 2024 | League rank (CB) |
|---|---|---|
| PDs | 11 | top-15 |
| INTs | 3 | top-25 |
| FFs | 2 | top-10 |
The 2024 season is the file that earned him the 4-year, $76M extension the Bills handed him before the 2025 season opener — $30M+ guaranteed at signing, eclipsing his entire prior career earnings.
It was the year he became a true CB1: 11 PDs, 3 INTs, 2 FFs, 54 tackles, with no missed starts. The PD count alone was top-15 league-wide at his position.
Among 2022 Day 3 CBs, Benford has the most career PDs (32) — well clear of the field.
RareThe 2022 CB class included plenty of higher-pedigree names (Sauce Gardner, Derek Stingley Jr.), but on Day 3 specifically, Benford has out-produced every CB drafted in rounds 4-7.
His 32 career PDs is well clear of the second-place finisher in that subgroup, and his 8 INTs is among the top totals as well. He's the model for what a competent FCS-level CB can become with patient development.
3 starter seasons, 27 PDs + 7 INTs — comparable to recent CB1s in their first 3 starter years.
ComparisonFrom his first starter year (2023) through 2025, Benford has 27 PDs, 7 INTs, 128 tackles, and 5 forced fumbles across just 3 seasons of true starter snaps.
That 3-year ball-production profile (27 PDs + 7 INTs + 5 FFs) lines up with what recent No. 1 corners have produced in their first three starter years. The contract Buffalo gave him priced for that exact comp.
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