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Camp battle: Cornerback 2 battle whimpering into third week

Matt Warren is Associate Director of NFL coverage for SB Nation and previously covered the Bills for Buffalo Rumblings for more than a decade.

Three things are certain; death, taxes, and Levi Wallace beating all comers at the Buffalo Bills’ second cornerback spot opposite Tre’Davious White. This year, the challenger was Dane Jackson, and he has gone the way of Josh Norman, Kevin Johnson, Phillip Gaines, (and even Vontae Davis).

Wallace, the 2018 undrafted free agent, is consistent and heady, being in the right place at the right time. He’s limited athletically, sure, but he makes up for that between the ears more often than not.

Jackson was a seventh-round pick for Buffalo in 2020 but didn’t make the final 53-man roster. He’s just the second draft pick of general manager Brandon Beane to not make the initial roster. He was added to the practice squad and due to COVID-19 modifications, was brought up to the active roster repeatedly during the season while never being signed to an active-roster contract. He had his best game against the New York Jets in Week 7, with three tackles, two passes defended, and an interception.

While we haven’t heard a ton of “Wow, nice play by Levi Wallace” from the beat reporters at camp, we have seen them discussing Jackson negatively with the word “inconsistent” featured prominently.

With White and safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, plus great coverage linebackers in Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds, Buffalo has chosen not to invest heavily in the CB2 position. It looks like for the fourth straight year, it’s largely going to fall on Wallace to hold down the fort.