ORCHARD PARK – Last year, before the Buffalo Bills played the Houston Texans where Stefon Diggs was preparing to face his old team for the first time, he predictably had nothing to say about the matchup.
Not the case for Bills cornerback Christian Benford who spoke glowingly about how much he was looking forward to the challenge of facing Diggs because he had learned so much from him in the two seasons they practiced against each other in Buffalo.
“I was young and just understanding like different receivers, how they run their routes, how they will beat certain types of DBs, so that’s what I learned from him,” Benford said. “Even sometimes during the game he would say something; I would look to the sideline and he would say something. We would compete, and he taught me a lot about ball.”
The tutoring Diggs provided has certainly benefited the Bills because Benford has become one of the league’s best CBs, and over the past month there’s a strong case to be made that he’s been the very best.
In that 2024 game in Houston, Diggs caught six passes for 82 yards, but none of it came against Benford, according to Pro Football Focus. And then back in October of this season, when Diggs came into Highmark Stadium with the Patriots and torched the Bills for 10 catches for 146 yards with eight of those receptions resulting in a first down, PFF charged only one of his receptions worth 10 yards to Benford.
That night, the Patriots moved Diggs all over, lining him up 10 times in the slot, 11 wide left and nine wide right, likely in an effort to keep him away from Benford.
Christian Benford has shut down some of NFL’s top receivers
However, that was before the Bills changed coverage tactics with Benford who in several recent games has been shadowing the opponents’ top receiver. Since they’ve done this, Benford has effectively shut down Tet McMillan of the Panthers, Emeka Egbuka of the Bucs, Nico Collins of the Texans, DK Metcalf of the Steelers and, most impressively, Ja’Marr Chase of the Bengals.
It will be tougher for Buffalo to match Benford with Diggs because Diggs has split his snaps this season almost 50-50 between the boundary and the slot. When he goes inside, Benford probably won’t go with him, but he almost certainly will when he’s outside regardless of which side it is.
“He is very, very committed to the process,” coach Sean McDermott said of the fourth-year player who has become one of the greatest draft day finds in team history, excelling as a sixth-round pick. “As you guys know he doesn’t say much, but he’s a very focused young man on his job. And it’s been really a joy to watch him get more and more comfortable in this position in terms of how we use him as a corner and what he does week to week for us. And not just the pass game but the run game and some of the plays he’s made for us.”
Benford honored by NFL
Benford was named AFC defensive player of the week for his performance against the Steelers he made an interception, a tackle for loss against the run, and returned a fumble for a touchdown. Against the Bengals, he probably could have won it again. He shut out Chase who caught five passes for 44 yards, none of that with Benford in primary coverage, and with Joe Burrow trying to hit Chase on a hot read in the fourth quarter, Benford leaped up to pick it off and raced 63 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
He became the first Bills’ defensive player in team history to score a touchdown in back-to-back games.
“He’s just a pro and wants to be really good,” defensive coordinator Bobby Babich said earlier this week. “He works at it, and it’s just who CB is. If you were to tell me, ‘Hey, he’s coming up here, he’s gonna have a couple defensive touchdowns,’ wouldn’t shock me.”
Speaking of pros, that’s certainly what Diggs is, and he is playing a vital role in the development of second-year quarterback Drake Maye.
Just as he was in 2020 for Buffalo when Allen needed a stud receiver to elevate his game, Diggs is doing the same for Maye this season as he has 64 catches for 705 yards and three TDs.
“When you look at his makeup and character, I think that there’s an energy and a competitive spirit to Stef,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. “To play in this league at any position and be successful, you obviously have to have a skillset, but I do think that he is competitive, and I think that’s allowed him to be successful in a lot of different places.”
We all know that Diggs’ departure from Buffalo was a little messy, and though he hasn’t said much about it, his play in the two games that he has faced his former team since he basically goaded the Bills into trading him indicate that motivation won’t be a problem for him Sunday.
The Bills have not been able to find a new alpha to replace Diggs in their receiver room, and that makes his two big-time performances against them sting all that much more.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 36 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills’ CB learned from Stefon Diggs, now he’s dominating
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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