The Buffalo Bills have had success over the last decade in developing late-round defensive backs. Whether those players were draft picks at corner or priority free agents following a draft, the Bills have done well to find depth in places that other teams might have overlooked.
The team was able to find players who might not have had eye-popping athletic testing numbers who were just good football players. It also helped that those players fit the system fun by former head coach and defensive architect Sean McDermott. Will that success in finding and developing late-round defensive backs continue now that McDermott is no longer with the club? What kinds of players will new defensive boss Jim Leonhard covet?
In today’s edition of “91 players in 91 days,” we profile a player who seems like he would have fit very well in Buffalo’s old defense.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
**Height/Weight:** 6’2” 204 lbs.
**Age:** 23 (24 on 2/28/2027)
**Experience/Draft:** R; signed with Buffalo following the 2026 NFL Draft
**Financial situation (per Spotrac):** Walker’s three-year contract is worth a total of $3.11 million in total. For the 2026 season, he carries a cap hit of $888,333 if he makes the 53-man roster. Buffalo will be on the hook for a dead cap charge of $10,000 if they release him, which is the total value of Walker’s signing bonus.
**2025 Recap:** Walker’s redshirt senior season was a good one, as he transferred from Oklahoma to Arkansas and immediately helped the Razorbacks’ defense. Walker had a career-high 11 pass breakups, and he returned his lone interception of the season for an 89-yard touchdown. That was the third interception of his collegiate career, but it was his first—and only—college touchdown. Walker also totaled a career-high 52 tackles, bringing his career total to 104 stops over 47 NCAA games. Walker was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, and he put up some solid numbers as it relates to strength and explosiveness (12 reps of the 225-pound bench press, 10’1” broad jump, 33.5” vertical jump), but not as it relates to overall speed and agility (4.58-second forty-yard dash, 4.4-second twenty-yard shuttle, 7.32-second three-cone drill).
**Positional outlook:** Walker is one of five players listed as a defensive back, joining Te’Cory Couch, Jordan Dunbar, Sam Franklin Jr., and Jordan Hancock as players with that designation. Some of those players are safeties, though, and Walker is a corner. The other cornerbacks on the roster include Christian Benford, Maxwell Hairston, Davison Igbinosun, Toriano Pride Jr., Dorian Strong, and Dee Alford.
**2026 Offseason:** Walker is participating in OTAs.
**2026 Season outlook:** This is going to be one of the wilder comparisons you read in this space, but Walker seems to have a little Christian Benford in him. He’s not fast, but he has long arms, he’s strong, and he has a nose for the football. Benford is a superior athlete for sure—his RAS score was an 8.14 while Walker’s was just 5.04—but there are enough similarities in their height/weight profile, wingspan, and speed metrics that it makes me wonder about Walker’s overall ceiling. Benford ran the forty-yard dash in just 4.53 seconds, completed the twenty-yard shuttle in 4.34 seconds, and finished the three-cone drill in 7.1 seconds. Each player has a long wingspan, as Benford’s is 74.75” and Walker’s is 76”. That sort of length can help to disrupt a wideout’s release, thereby disrupting the timing of an offensive play tremendously.
I’m not saying that Kani (pronounced kuh-NYE) Walker is going to be Christian Benford. What I am saying, though, is that I see why the Bills were attracted to a player like Walker given that they have someone who wasn’t thought to be an elite-level player who they drafted, developed, and signed to a lucrative extension not so long ago.
Walker has a great opportunity to learn from someone who has faced long odds, overcome them, and developed into one of the better corners in the NFL. While he’s extremely unlikely to make the roster this year, a strong showing over the summer could lead to a spot on the practice squad, where he can continue to hone his craft and wait for an opportunity.