Buffalo Bills address need at cornerback by selecting Kentucky's Maxwell Hairston 30th in NFL draft

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Maxwell Hairston’s blistering speed wasn’t the only thing that helped convince Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane to select the Kentucky cornerback in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night.

What impressed Beane more, aside from filling Buffalo's most pressing offseason need, was the 21-year-old’s ability to recover when he gets beaten in coverage. It was a quality evident in one play the GM and Hairston watched during their meeting at the NFL combine in Indianapolis two months ago.

In a game against Texas last year, Longhorns receiver Isaiah Bond got a few steps on Hairston before the cornerback swiveled and, without losing his balance, chased down the receiver in time to break up a reception.

“It’s hard to have recovery speed like that,” Beane said after selecting Hairston 30th overall.

“Some guys run fast, like they run track fast, but they don’t play fast,” he added. “And you’re always looking to add speed as long as the football player matches it.”

Listed at 5-11 and 182 pounds, Hairston ran the fasted 40 of any player at the combine in being timed at 4.28 seconds.

Production-wise, he led the SEC as a sophomore in 2023 with five interceptions, including two returned for touchdowns. He had only one interception last year plus two forced fumbles in seven starts while missing five due to a shoulder injury.

Aside from speed, Hairston brings an infectious personality and joked about knowing what is expected from him in joining the quarterback Josh Allen-led five-time defending AFC East champions.

“I bring juice, I bring being a good teammate, I bring leadership,” said Hairston, who is from West Bloomfield, Michigan. “And I’m going to bring Josh Allen the ball back.”

Hairston joins a team with a hole at cornerback opposite returning starter Christian Benford.

Buffalo elected against re-signing starter Rasul Douglas last month, while also electing to move on from Kaiir Elam by trading the third-year player to Dallas last month. And Hairston became the first defensive player the Bills selected with their first pick in the draft since taking Elam at No. 23 in 2022.

Buffalo added veteran depth at the position with the free-agent additions of Tre’Davious White and Dane Jackson, who both rejoin the team after a one-year absence.

Though Hairston will have a shot to compete for a starting job, the veteran depth provides the Bills a level of insurance to ease in the rookie, who Beane said still needs to develop his tackling skills — something the team demands out of its cornerbacks.

“I think he is a willing tackler,” Beane said, noting Hairston has already started bulking up. “It’s not from a lack of effort. And he’s got the coverage skills, ball skills that you look for in a corner.”

On Thursday, Hairston was the fourth cornerback selected in the first round, including No. 2 pick Travis Hunter who also plays receiver.

By filling a position of need and with Buffalo having a first-round grade on Hairston, Beane said he elected to make the selection rather than trading back as he did twice in moving entirely out of the first round a year ago.

“We didn’t want to commit to that until we saw what was there on the board,” Beane said. “We had options to go back, but we had a good grade on Max. We’re excited that he was available.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston, right, celebrates with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Buffalo Bills with the 30th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston celebrates after being chosen by the Buffalo Bills with the 30th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston, right, poses NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Buffalo Bills with the 30th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston celebrates after being chosen by the Buffalo Bills with the 30th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston puts on a hat after being chosen by the Buffalo Bills with the 30th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston, right, poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell , center, and Tommy Parzymieso after being chosen by the Buffalo Bills with the 30th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston celebrates after being chosen by the Buffalo Bills with the 30th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

It was late in the afternoon and lightly snowing when four rock climbers, working their way up a steep gully between two peaks in Washington’s North Cascades Range, decided to turn around for a descent down the mountain that would claim three of their lives.

As they climbed down, the four attached their ropes to an piton — a metal spike pounded into rock cracks or ice and used to secure ropes — that had been placed by a past climber. As one of the men began rappelling off the piton, it ripped out of the mountain, sending all four falling past ice and snow and rock.

They fell some 200 feet (60 meters), landing in a more sloping ravine where they tumbled for another roughly 200 feet before coming to a stop in a tangle of rope.

Three were killed by the fall. One was knocked unconscious.

Anton Tselykh awoke in the dark. It had been hours since the fall.

Over the course of several hours, he extricated himself from the tangle of ropes, gear and debris and trekked over rough terrain of rock and snow — with help from a pick-like ice tool — to his car.

He drove for some 40 miles (64 kilometers) before finding a pay phone and calling for help in Newhalem, an unincorporated community about an hour's drive away. It was Sunday morning, eight hours since he regained consciousness.

From a Seattle hospital Wednesday morning, Tselykh, recovering from head trauma and internal bleeding, told authorities what had happened. He was in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center, meaning he was not in the intensive care unit, Susan Gregg, media relations director for UW Medicine, said in an email.

Tselykh, 38, confirmed authorities' theories of what led to the deaths of his three companions, identified as Vishnu Irigireddy, 48; Tim Nguyen, 63; and Oleksander Martynenko, 36.

A three-person search and rescue team had responded to the site of the fall following Tselykh's call, said Cristina Woodworth, who led the team and spoke with the lone survivor by phone Wednesday. The team had followed coordinates from a GPS device the climbers had been carrying, which were shared by a friend of the men.

The rough terrain required a helicopter, which removed the bodies one at a time, Woodworth said.

Responders pored over the recovered equipment, trying to decipher what caused the fall. They found the piton still clipped into the climbers’ ropes, Okanogan County Coroner Dave Rodriguez said. Pitons are difficult to remove from rock, he said, and the anchor's presence on the rope was a clue to what happened.

Generally, setting up a backup anchor is a common practice among climbers, said Joshua Cole, a guide and co-owner of North Cascades Mountain Guides, who has been climbing in the area for about 20 years. It's still unclear whether the four had a backup.

The four climbers were friends, some of whom had climbed together before and appeared fairly experienced, Woodworth said, adding that Tselykh was “obviously very much affected by this.”

Irigireddy was a vice president of engineering at the Fluke Corporation, a test equipment manufacturing company, which released a statement Wednesday.

“Vishnu was an extraordinary leader, and his loss is felt profoundly across our organization,” the statement read.

Martynenko’s wife, Olga, said Tuesday in a Facebook post that her husband, whom she referred to as Alex, also left behind their son. She shared a link to a fundraiser to help “during the most devastating time of our lives.”

“I still cannot believe that you are gone, my love."

Bedayn is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

The Okanogan County Search and Rescue team responds to a climbing accident in the North Cascades mountains in Washington on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Okanogan County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The Okanogan County Search and Rescue team responds to a climbing accident in the North Cascades mountains in Washington on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Okanogan County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The Okanogan County Search and Rescue team responds to a climbing accident in the North Cascades mountains in Washington on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Okanogan County Sheriff's Office via AP)