Bills overlooked defensive back making a strong preseason impression

ORCHARD PARK - Given how the Buffalo Bills brought so many new players into their defensive secondary, both via the draft and free agency, it almost felt like Jordan Hancock was a forgotten man.

Contributing to that dynamic is that it was a bit of out of sight, out of mind for Hancock during the spring because in addition to the arrivals of free agents CJ Gardner-Johnson , Geno Stone , and Dee Alford , and draft picks Davison Igbinosun , Jalon Kilgore and Toriano Pride joining the team, Hancock missed all of the on-field portions of the offseason program recovering from shoulder surgery.

But through this point in training camp and the first two preseason games, if anyone truly had forgotten about the 2025 fifth-round pick , he's reminding everyone exactly who he is.

"It's cool to see because it's a guy who didn't get an offseason at all and, in a new system, that's really hard," coach Joe Brady said. "It's good to see a guy coming off an injury, there's no hesitation, flying around, making plays. He's figuring out what that niche is, and we're asking a lot of him, moving him around. Our nickel plays a lot of different roles, so to be able to play safety, play nickel, help on special teams. It was cool to see him finally make some plays."

A delayed start but fast climb for Jordan Hancock

Through the first two preseason games according to Pro Football Focus charting, Hancock has played 57 total snaps, 38 of those as a slot corner and 17 at free safety, plus two random snaps on the line. He's been in on five tackles and every one of them was regarded as a "stop" which PFF defines as a tackle that caused a failure for the offense. Although he has allowed five receptions on six targets, those have gone for just 12 yards total.

"I told you he was going to be one of the biggest evaluations this camp because he did miss the offseason," defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said. "Any time you have guys who missed snaps on the field, you have to play a little bit of catch up as far as the evaluation and he's doing a great job.

"It's finding the right amount of snaps, the right roles for him. Obviously he has to be a little bit of a Swiss Army knife right now as far as learning safety, learning the nickel position. There are other sub grouping packages that we can get him in and do different things that are kind of that hybrid type of role as well. He's handling it well."

Why versatility matters in Jim Leonhard's defense

Hancock was not a factor in the first half of 2025 but he started getting playing time in the blowout Week 8 victory over Carolina and was active for every game thereafter with the exception of Week 17 against the Eagles and the divisional round playoff loss to the Broncos .

He played 398 total snaps, including special teams. Of those, 183 came on defense, with most of that work at free safety and only six snaps in the slot. This year in Leonhard's defense, the slot corner will be deployed differently than it was over the last several seasons when Taron Johnson occupied the role on nearly every snap.

Leonhard is going to play matchups and will use Alford as the primary starter, but he will rotate others in depending on who lines up across that position, and Hancock could be in the mix.

"It helps a lot," Hancock said of being versatile. "I planted my seed last year and was growing and growing every day with both positions being versatile. I feel like I just got on the field, I played more than I was expected to play. I had opportunities, whether I made the play or not, I had the opportunity to be out there. Now to be in a position where I have to play either position, safety or nickel, I'm trying to be the best at both spots for sure."

The 6-foot, 195-pounder is a dynamic athlete. Basketball was his first love growing up outside Atlanta - his favorite player was Russell Westbrook - and he could dunk a basketball when he stood just 5-foot-7 as an eighth grader, though he could just as easily drop a bomb from three-point range.

It was Mel Tucker, who was the defensive coordinator at Georgia and later the head coach at Michigan State, who after seeing him at football practice while on the recruiting trail told Hancock that football should be his primary sport.

That didn't pay off for Tucker because Ohio State swooped in and signed Hancock and he went on to play 42 games for the Buckeyes totaling 98 tackles, 2.5 sacks, three interceptions, 14 passes defensed and four forced fumbles.

"Just being at Ohio State, just being around great people, great coaches," he said regarding his pedigree playing in a big-time program and how that helped his transition to the NFL. "You're not bigger than anybody. There's always room for improvement and I feel like that's with me, I feel like improvement is a lot. I feel like I can improve and develop, and I'm ready to learn and ready to compete."

Bills looking for answers beyond the starters

In addition to being a physical player, Hancock has the ability to quickly diagnose what's happening, though he does have a tendency to play almost too fast and it gets him out of position. Often, he can recover, but occasionally he doesn't and especially at safety, that can be dangerous.

"He's a confident player," Leonhard said of the former Ohio State standout who played for the Buckeyes' 2024 national championship team. "He's going to make quick decisions and play fast, he's going to make mistakes. There are things that aren't always clean, but he makes fast decisions and he's going to live with the results. You respect that as a coach. You have to take some of the hard edges off sometimes, but you do know he's going to impact the game and he's going to fly around and he's going to set the tone."

Unless there are injuries, Hancock isn't going to be a starter for Buffalo, but if he continues to play the way he has this summer, he's going to get a game-day jersey.

"Every game you get into and there's a situation that pops up where you're one injury or you're one guy having a bad performance away from a lot of pieces moving around," Leonhard said.

"That's always the fun part of being a coach in the NFL is you only have a limited amount of bodies. You get into games and sometimes there's a guy backing up multiple positions and how you're going to play that out and making adjustments, maybe something you thought was going to work well going into the game, you're not getting production out of it and you have to make adjustments. It's huge for me having a handful of guys you know have a flexible skill set. The more players you have in different groups like that, the better."

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.