Buffalo Bills Starting CBs: Tre'Davious White Plus Who?

With several AFC competitors having restocked their receiving corps, the Bills will have to keep a close eye on their secondary.

The rest of the AFC East has gotten the point: there's no salvation from a divisional dictator, only an unpeaceful transition of power.

To counter the Buffalo Bills' newfound stranglehold usurped from New England, their competitors have restocked their respective receiving arsenals. The New York Jets, for example, used one of their first-round picks on Garrett Wilson and expect big things from sophomore Elijah Moore. In Miami, the Dolphins made things personal by adding Buffalo's postseason enemy Tyreek Hill from Kansas City. 

The high-octane newcomers will make the Bills' secondary one of the biggest factors of their division title defense. Buffalo's cornerback spot is filled with accomplished name-brand talent, even with the departure of the Pittsburgh-bound Levi Wallace. The group is headlined by Tre'Davious White, who is set to return for his sixth season with a streaking buffalo helmet.  

Questions still linger, even at the top spots.  

Even the return of the elite defender White is literally pained by uncertainty, as he's attempting to work his way back from a torn ACL that ended his season in late November. Buffalo brass appears confident in his ability to recover. But, even if White returns to full strength, the team is looking to use the upcoming training camp to figure out who will be the top name next to him.

With Wallace gone, Kaiir Elam is perhaps the best-known name among the potential successors. A draft-day trade with Baltimore sent him to Western New York with the 23rd overall pick of the most recent selections. Elam, set to be the third member in his family to partake in NFL affairs (after his father Abram and uncle Matt), is the first premier Buffalo pick used on a corner since White's arrival in 2017. The Florida alum listed "situational football" as his desired late summer area of improvement in statements to the Bills' website. 

"My growth and knowledge about situational football have grown tremendously," said Elam as he prepared for training camp, which for the rookies began Monday. "In the short amount of time I've been here, I've learned so much and I'm still learning to this day."

He believes that he's landed into a situation that provides the perfect mentor in head coach Sean McDermott. 

"(I'm) learning what the offense is expecting, and what the defensive coordinator is trying to do to counter that. I think that's grown exponentially, thanks to Coach McDermott. He preaches and harps on that daily. Also, the importance of taking away the ball in this league. It's super-duper hard and the great ones can do it consistently."

To Elam's point, Buffalo was tied for third with New England with 30 takeaways last season.

Even with such valuable capital used on Elam, his competitors should not be quickly dismissed, especially with their knowledge of defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier's set-ups. Siran Neal and Dane Jackson (respectively drafted on the third day of the 2018 and 2020 drafts) are each set to return. The third-year Jackson has impressed McDermott, who referred to him as a "winner." 

Jackson is opting to view the 2022 season as a leadership opportunity, especially with Elam in tow. It's part of a process that began when he was called upon to step in for White when his season ended early. 

"You can see how he's interacting with Kaiir, just encouraging him and helping him to grow as we go," Frazier noted. "I think that comes from what he experienced down the stretch with us last season having to play as much as he did and gaining the confidence that he did to be able to impart some of that information on a young player."

The re-signed Neal's versatility, working at both corner spots, safety, and special teams, has likewise gotten the Bills excited. He's likewise opting to view the overflow of talent as an opportunity to take on a mentoring role. He's hoping that such efforts will make the opponents' offseason spending irrelevant and futile. 

"I'm taking all the young guys under my arm right now. Things that I see from film and stuff that they are struggling with, I just tell them to think about it this way or that way and just keep pushing it over. Right now, it's early in the process so their head's spinning but they're catching on pretty fast."

"With the guys that we got and the guys that they brought in, the DB room looks nice."