Christian Benford (born September 21, 2000) is an American football cornerback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Villanova.
No. 47 – Buffalo Bills | |||||||||||
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Position: | Cornerback | ||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||
Born: | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | September 21, 2000||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||
Weight: | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||
High school: | Randallstown (Randallstown, Maryland) | ||||||||||
College: | Villanova (2018–2021) | ||||||||||
NFL draft: | 2022 / Round: 6 / Pick: 185 | ||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||
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Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
Career NFL statistics as of 2023 | |||||||||||
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Player stats at PFR |
NFL career statistics
Legend | |
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Bold | Career High |
Regular season
Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||
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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 | - | - | - |
2023 | BUF | 15 | 14 | 54 | 43 | 11 | 3 | 0.0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
Career | 24 | 19 | 78 | 60 | 18 | 4 | 0.0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | 43 | 14.3 | 35 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
Postseason
Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
Career | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
Early years
Benford was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up Randallstown, Maryland, where he attended Randallstown High School.[1] He was named All-Metro and All-Baltimore County as a senior and played for Maryland in the Big 33 Football Classic.[2] Benford committed to play college football at Villanova over an offer from Morgan State.[3]
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.[4] He played in ten games with seven starts as a sophomore and broke up five passes with one interception.[5][6] 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.[7] 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.[8]
Professional career
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 | |
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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[9] |
Benford was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round, 185th overall, of the 2022 NFL Draft.[10] Benford began the season as the starting cornerback for the Bills along with Dane Jackson. In his debut against the Los Angeles Rams he had 3 tackles and one pass defended.[11] Benford fractured his hand in a week 3 loss to the Miami Dolphins,[12] 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.[13] He was activated from injured reserve on January 6, 2023.[14]