Buffalo Bills corner Christian Benford inked a big-money contract that will change his life but not how he approaches the game.
Benford acknowledged Wednesday that the four-year, $76 million extension was a "life-changing moment."
"This is probably just something else that I just put in the bucket," he said via New York Upstate. "But my drive already is still strong to be the best in the league. It don't change nothing. I don't feel different. My mindset is still the same. Get to the Super Bowl, be the best in the league."
Benford entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick out of Villanova but immediately usurped first-round pick Kaiir Elam on the depth chart -- Elam was traded to Dallas this offseason. Benford's physical style fits perfectly in Sean McDermott's system, and the 24-year-old has grown into the Bills' most crucial cover man.
The evolution of his career -- from late-round pick to big payday -- won't change his attitude. If anything, Benford said the hard work away from the bright lights informs his approach.
"A moment like this, like all the extra work – outworking, feel like you're outworking everybody in this building, outworking everybody in this country, and then doing the extra mile, like being different from yourself, like your old self, like breaking your old self and adding some more to your new self," Benford said. "That's hard to do. And then seeing something like this – it means a lot. Because it means, like, 'All right, all this work I'm putting in means something,' it's not just going to waste, because sometimes, that's what you can feel sometimes, like you can feel like I'm doing all this for nothing."