Buffalo Bills: 5 position battles that will come down to the wire
Cornerback
It seems like every season the Buffalo Bills have a battle for the second corner position opposite Tre’Davious White. Both White and Taron Johnson are locked in to start but Johnson players nickel corner which leaves the other outside position up for grabs.
Bills DC Leslie Frazier: Levi and Dane are neck and neck right now. We needed to see Dane in detail that’s why Levi sat out the Bears preseason game.
— Josh Reed (@4JoshReed) August 24, 2021
Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said this the other day indicating that this battle is all but done. While Wallace has a slight lead he picked up an injury that may allow Jackson to take the spot. Wallace’s injury is nothing long-term the Bills hope but it surely is untimely. Wallace has been able to scath off veterans from years past and seems to always end up with the starting role.
Although he has a slight injury right now I would expect the same to happen this season. Dane Jackson shows a lot of promise but is a little more inconsistent than Wallace and he has significantly less experience in big games. Wallace will likely win the number two corner spot again this season.
Jackson will still make the roster and likely be the direct backup to Wallace and White while Siran Neal is probably on the roster as a guy who can play both nickel and outside corner. Buffalo usually keeps only five corners on the roster but this group is both young and a little inexperienced on the backend. Buffalo could go out and find a veteran corner to bring in as an extra guy or choose to stay in house with a name like Cam Lewis.
Cam Lewis has played well in the preseason and last year was the reason Johnson got benched. If Lewis had not gotten injured just plays into his first start Johnson could have easily lost his job last season. That is huge to factor in because Johnson was very solid last season so if Buffalo thought Lewis could be better then they value his talent.
The rest of the corners on the roster are solid practice squad candidates and one name to keep an eye on is Nick McCloud. McCloud has been very good for a UDFA this offseason so I expect him to be a priority when general manager Brandon Beane is building the practice squad.