The Buffalo Bills selected Kentucky Wildcats cornerback Maxwell Hairston with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Hairston, a two-time All-SEC second team selection, showed before he was even selected by the Bills on Thursday night why he’s poised to be a superstar at the next level.
The Michigan native has elite athleticism and speed, but that’s not the trait that stood out the most about Hairston on draft night. Football is arguably the greatest team sport there is. And Hairston showed that he’s going to be a perfect teammate by the he celebrated the players that were drafted ahead of him on Thursday night.
Hairston, a player that some analysts expected to be selected higher in the draft, didn’t spend the evening sulking in the green room when teams passed over him. Instead, he celebrated and hyped the players that were selected ahead of him.
“Honestly, that’s just how I am,” said Hairston after the draft. “I’m a very happy and energetic person. And the fact that I’m in the green room right now is just so exciting for me. And the fact that I knew the majority of the guys that got picked, of course I had to show some love. Like, man, those are my brothers, man. We worked so hard for this opportunity, and to all hear our names called, man, it’s truly beautiful. And I’m so glad that I was able to hype them up, and then later on hear my name called the same night. It’s a blessing. ”
Thanks to NIL and the transfer portal, football is quickly becoming a “me” sport. But regardless of how much a player is getting paid, or how fast a guy runs at the combine, success in the NFL will ultimately come down to which franchise can put the team on the field that plays for each other at the highest level.
Hairston looks like he’s going be an elite “glue guy” for the Bills. And he happens to be a pretty damn good cornerback, too.