Christian Benford (born September 21, 2000) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...

for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at Villanova.

Early life and high school

Benford was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and grew up

Randallstown, Maryland Randallstown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is named after Christopher and Thomas Randall, two 18th-century tavern-keepers. At that time, Randallstown was a tollgate cro ...

, where he attended

Randallstown High School Randallstown High School is a public high school located in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It serves students in the Randallstown, Woodlawn, and Owings Mills areas. It is a part of Baltimore County Public Schools. Its primary feeder s ...

. He was named All-Metro and All-

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

as a senior and played for Maryland in the

Big 33 Football Classic The Big 33 Football Classic is an all-star American football game featuring the top high-school football players in Pennsylvania. Played since 1957, the game is often described as the " Super Bowl of High School Football." Contests currently pit ...

. Benford committed to play college football at Villanova over an offer from

Morgan State Morgan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend * Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin * Morgan (singer ...

College career

Benford played in nine games with eight starts as a true freshman and was named the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I whose full members are located in East Coast ...

(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 The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

-leading 18 passes broken up and was again named first-team All-CAA.

Professional career

Benford was selected by the

in the sixth round, 185th overall, of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

. 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. 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.

References

External links

Buffalo Bills bioVillanova Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benford, Christian 2000 births Living people People from Randallstown, Maryland Players of American football from Maryland Sportspeople from Baltimore County, Maryland American football cornerbacks Villanova Wildcats football players Buffalo Bills players