# Christian Benford

Christian Benford (born September 21, 2000) is an American professional football cornerback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Villanova.

## Early life

Benford was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up Randallstown, Maryland, where he attended Randallstown High School. He was named All-Metro and All-Baltimore County as a senior and played for Maryland in the Big 33 Football Classic. Benford committed to play college football at Villanova over an offer from Morgan State.

## College career

Benford played in nine games with eight starts as a true freshman and was named the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Defensive Rookie of the Year and third-team All-CAA after making 49 tackles with six pass breakups and five interceptions. He played in ten games with seven starts as a sophomore and broke up five passes with one interception. Benford was named first-team All-CAA in his junior season, which was shortened and played in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. As a senior, Benford recorded 39 tackles with seven interceptions and an NCAA Division I FCS-leading 18 passes broken up and was again named first-team All-CAA.

## Professional career

Pre-draft measurables :
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press |
| 6 ft 0+1⁄2 in (1.84 m) | 208 lb (94 kg) | 31 in (0.79 m) | 9+3⁄4 in (0.25 m) | 4.53 s | 1.51 s | 2.63 s | 4.34 s | 7.10 s | 35.0 in (0.89 m) | 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m) | 17 reps |
| All values from Pro Day ||||||||||||
Benford was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round, 185th overall, of the 2022 NFL draft. Benford began the season as the starting cornerback for the Bills along with Dane Jackson, beating out fellow rookie and first-round pick Kaiir Elam. In his debut against the Los Angeles Rams he had 3 tackles and one pass defended. Benford fractured his hand in a week 3 loss to the Miami Dolphins, missing only two games and coming back in a week six victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. He was placed on injured reserve on November 26, 2022. He was activated from injured reserve on January 6, 2023.
Benford continued to start for the Bills in 2023, despite the return of All-Pro corner Tre'Davious White from injury, and he continued to start when White was injured again and eventually replaced by trade acquisition Rasul Douglas. In addition, Benford was healthier in his sophomore season, playing 15 games and starting 14, as opposed to just 5 starts and 9 overall games in his rookie season. In 2023, he recorded 51 total tackles, 10 passes defensed, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles, and only missed one tackle, enough for Pro Football Focus to give him their 8th highest score among corners that season, tied with Douglas. In the playoffs, Benford injured his knee during the Bills' 31–17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round, becoming one of several defensive starters to miss the divisional round game against the Chiefs, which Buffalo lost 27–24.
In the early portion of the 2024 season, Benford, now firmly entrenched as the Bills' starting cornerback, earned a spot on PFF's "first quarter All-Pro" team for his stellar play. In addition to his high coverage grades, he was graded the best tackler among cornerbacks in the league at that point of the season.
After 3 full seasons, Benford is heralded as an elite slot defender and is widely considered to be one of the biggest steals of the 2022 NFL Draft.

## NFL career statistics

Legend :
| Bold | Career High |

### Regular season

| Year | Team | Games | Games | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | TFL | Sck | Sfty | PD | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FF | FR | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2022 | BUF | 9 | 5 | 24 | 17 | 7 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 35 | 35.0 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 |
| 2023 | BUF | 15 | 14 | 54 | 43 | 11 | 3 | 0.0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 2024 | BUF | 15 | 15 | 64 | 50 | 14 | 3 | 1.0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 30 | 15.0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 43 | 43 | 0 |
| Career | Career | 39 | 34 | 142 | 110 | 32 | 7 | 1.0 | 0 | 25 | 5 | 73 | 12.3 | 35 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |

### Postseason

| Year | Team | Games | Games | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Tackles | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Interceptions | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles | Fumbles |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | TFL | Sck | Sfty | PD | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FF | FR | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2023 | BUF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 2024 | BUF | 3 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Career | Career | 4 | 4 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |