Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills are heading into a season with a new defensive system for the first time in a long time. Not since the transition from Rex Ryan’s defense to Sean McDermott’s have we had to think about what a new system would look like.
While we won’t know for sure what defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has in store for us until Week One against the Houston Texans, we will start to see some hints in training camp once practice begins in earnest. For now, we can wonder whether players from McDermott’s tenure fit into Leonhard’s vision for the club—and if they do fit, we can wonder about exactly how and where they will be.
In today’s installment of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss a player whose versatility could be his biggest asset moving forward.
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Name: Jordan Hancock
Number: 37
Position: DB
Height/Weight: 6’ 195 lbs.
Age: 22 (23 on 8/12/2026)
Experience/Draft: 2; selected by Buffalo in the fifth round (No. 170 overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft
College: Ohio State
Acquired: Fifth-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Hancock enters the second year of his rookie contract, a four-year pact worth $4,520,216 overall. For the 2026 season, Hancock’s cap hit is $1,085,054 if he makes the 53-man roster. Buffalo will carry a dead cap charge of $240,162 if he’s released.
2025 Recap: Hancock made the roster as a reserve safety, but he spent most of the wearly days of his career as a healthy scratch. He was active on special teams for his first game, a 31-19 Week Four win over the New Orleans Saints, and notched his first career tackle. He was active again two weeks later when the Bills lost at the Atlanta Falcons, making another special teams tackle. Coming out of the bye, he made his debut on defense, playing 16 snaps in a 40-14 drubbing of the Carolina Panthers. Hancock was active for all of Buffalo’s remaining games, playing mostly on special teams. He surpassed 50% of the Bills’ defensive snaps just twice, and the scenarios in which he did so could not have been more different. In Week Eighteen, he played over 80% of Buffalo’s defensive snaps in a meaningless 35-8 victory over the New York Jets. In Buffalo’s Wild Card victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Hancock subbed in at safety when Jordan Poyer went down with an injury, and it could not have gone worse. Hancock was a frequent target of Trevor Lawrence, and he allowed a perfect 158.3 quarterback rating when he was the closest player in coverage. He allowed five completions for 111 yards and a touchdown on six targets; for contest, Lawrence completed 18 passes for 207 yards in the whole game. It was a disastrous effort for Hancock, who then played zero defensive snaps the following week. It was Darnell Savage Jr. subbing for a temporarily injured Cam Lewis late in the first half, and he didn’t do much better than Hancock, as he allowed Lil’Jordan...
