For being so short, the NFL's offseason is way too long. All summer we have to sit around and try and avoid making sweeping generalizations about players who quite literally haven't played a single snap of professional football yet.
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And perhaps this year's best example of that is taking place in Buffalo right now. Ever since the Bills drafted Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hariston in the first round of this year's draft, there's been a slow drip of ... not-so-encouraging updates from the team's various offseason activities. There's no need to panic about any of it -- right?!
Bleacher Report dropped a list of rookies that they're already concerned about and Hairston, of course, made the list. The quote they include from a Bills coach is, admittedly, a tiny bit concerning.
The Maxwell Hairston discourse is getting a little panicky already
"The Buffalo Bills took a chance on a high-upside prospect in cornerback Maxwell Hairston with this year's 30th overall pick. Hairston has speed to burn, which creates the potential to develop into an elite coverage corner. He also has some flaws to his game. 'There's speed, and then there's playing fast,' defensive coordinator Bobby Babich told ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg. 'And I think what we're starting to see is Max playing faster and utilizing his speed because his processing is starting to slow down a little bit in the event that he's grasping what we are throwing at him. ... Max is blessed with a lot of speed. And we'll see if that can show up consistently on the field.' The last line is vitally important in regards to Hairston's performance. Consistency will be necessary, because his physicality and technique tend to fade at times."
If this had been the first semi-negative thing we've head about Hairston so far, it'd probably be much more of a nothing-burger. And it almost certainly still is a nothing-burger. But at this point, we've gotten like, 3-4 different not-so-positive soundbites from coaches and reporters about Hairston's start in Buffalo, which is never a fun place to be as a first round pick.
I'm not going to panic quite yet, but I can't blame you for indulging it a little. That's what the summer's for, really. And then in the fall, we'll all have a nice laugh about it and pretend we never panicked in the first place.