The Buffalo Bills finalized their 53-man roster on Sunday, and one player they released has already found a new home.
Cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. will remain in the AFC but will move from the East to the North as the Cleveland Browns picked him up from waivers.
Buffalo Drafted Pride in the 2026 NFL Draft
The Bills drafted Pride in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft out of Missouri.
Pride played two seasons at Clemson before heading to Missouri for his final two seasons. He appeared in 52 college games.
The Browns have one of the youngest rosters in the NFL, and they are going through a youth movement. Pride will now have a role in Cleveland.
Pride is one of those players who just ended up being drafted by a good team with a loaded roster that didn’t have many open roster spots. Many good teams have to part with recent draft picks since they already have a roster close to 53 players, and Pride was one of the players that the Bills likely wanted to keep but had no room for.
The Browns have significant issues at cornerback. They have two of the best in the NFL, Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell, but their depth behind them isn’t strong.
Cleveland already claimed a cornerback on Thursday. The Colts released Mekhi Blackmon on Wednesday, and the Browns scooped him up quickly. The Browns knew they needed more corner help even after picking up Blackmon, and that is where Pride comes in.
The Browns didn’t draft a cornerback in the 2026 NFL Draft, and now Pride is kind of like a draft pick for them since the Bills did just draft him.
Bills Named Maxwell Hairston the No.2 Corner
One of the cornerbacks still on the Bills roster is Maxwell Hairston. It was a little alarming that he was playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final preseason game on Thursday, but head coach Joe Brady didn’t have any concerns about him.
“I thought it was important for Maxwell; he hasn’t had an opportunity,” Brady said of his decision to play Hairston, via the team’s website. “I thought it was just good for him to just be able to come out, go through it, get a feel for the environment and game, all of that. That was the biggest reason for it.”
Brady named Hairston as the No. 2 corner and should start against the Houston Texans in Week 1.
“He’s our starting corner. Maxwell’s got exactly what we look for in a corner,” Brady added.
The Bills drafted Hairston in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but his season didn’t get off to a great start. He injured his LCL at the start of training camp. Hairston didn’t participate in the preseason and even missed some regular season action.
Now that Hairston is healthy and has had a training camp, he has the chance to show the Bills why they drafted him in the first round last year.