The Buffalo Bills made an aggressive move to improve their defensive secondary in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Maxwell Hairston, the former standout cornerback for the Kentucky Wildcats, was their pick.
Hairston was expected to play a key role during his rookie year. However, he suffered a knee injury during training camp that has kept him out of the team’s first five games to begin the season.
While there has still been hope of Hairston returning to the field this season, that return has not happened yet.
Fans have started growing concerned about just how long he could be out. There have been no firm updates about a potential return timeline to this point.
Ahead of Week 6 NFL action against the Atlanta Falcons on the road, head coach Sean McDermott offered an extremely concerning update about Hairston. He refused to rule out the idea of Hairston missing the entire year.
"We'll see," McDermott said. "I'm just going off the medical team's messaging to me, and it's really not much of a change at this point. Both are heading in the right direction."
Of course, McDermott not ruling out him missing the season does not mean that he will, in fact, miss the entire year. It could simply mean that he does not have any timeline for the rookie cornerback at this point in time.
During his career in college at Kentucky, Hairston was a dynamic playmaker in the secondary. He racked up 87 total tackles over three years to go along with a sack, three forced fumbles, six interceptions, three defensive touchdowns, and 10 defended passes.
Looking at the rest of the 2025 season, getting Hairston back on the field would be a huge lift for the Bills’ defense. It’s too early to count him out, but obviously there are reasons to be very concerned about his status moving forward.
Hopefully, the 22-year-old cornerback will be able to work his way back onto the field. When he gets back to full health, there is a very good chance that Hairston could be a starter in Buffalo.
Only time will tell, but McDermott’s latest update does not give an outlook of optimism.
For more on the Buffalo Bills and general NFL news, head over to Newsweek Sports.
2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.