90 Buffalo Bills players in 90 days: S Micah Hyde

Last year, the Buffalo Bills dealt with a slew of major injuries. The onslaught began almost immediately in the season, as two major players in the defensive secondary needed to leave the team’s second regular-season game. While one was able to return after missing just one game, the other player was lost for the year thanks to a major neck injury.

In today’s edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we discuss that player — a fantastic veteran who was greatly missed last season. Pairing him with his longtime teammate in the back end of what should be an elite Buffalo defense will go a long way towards another successful season for the Bills.

Name: Micah Hyde

Number: 23

Position: S

Height/Weight: 6’, 197 pounds

Age: 32 (33 on 12/31/2023)

Experience/Draft: 11; selected by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round (No. 159 overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft

College: Iowa

Acquired: Signed with Buffalo on 3/9/2017

Financial situation (per Spotrac): Hyde enters the final year of the two-year, $19.25 million extension he signed in April 2021. For this season, he carries a $10,571,294 cap hit. If the Bills were to release him, they’d be on the hook for a dead-cap figure of $8.544 million.

2022 Recap: Hyde’s 2022 season was a short one, although it started off as strong as we would have expected. Hyde had five tackles and allowed just one completion for one yard in Buffalo’s season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Rams. He was playing well again the following week against the Tennessee Titans, but he suffered a disc injury in his neck during the game. That injury ended Hyde’s season, as he had fusion surgery and landed on Injured Reserve. He has said that, had Buffalo prevailed over the Cincinnati Bengals, he would have been able to play in the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Alas, that never came to fruition, as the Bills were steamrolled by the Bengals in a 27-10 defeat. Hyde finished his season with seven tackles.

Positional outlook: Hyde is joined by longtime teammate Jordan Poyer, as well as Dean Marlowe, Damar Hamlin, Taylor Rapp, and Jared Mayden.

2023 Offseason: Hyde is back to full health, and he has participated in offseason activities and training camp practices so far.

2023 Season outlook: A return to pre-injury form would be a welcome sight for the Bills, and it would also be a huge sigh of relief for Hyde, who said this summer that he thought his career may have ended on that Monday night against the Titans. Reuniting Hyde with Poyer, the longest-tenured members of the squad, should do wonders for a Buffalo defense that sorely missed their experience last season. Hyde and Poyer are so used to each other at this point that they almost play like two sides of a see-saw. As one goes, the other moves in tandem, and both players are so versatile that it allows Buffalo to run a much more complex defense in terms of disguising its coverages.

Teams were able to exploit the inexperienced safeties last year at times, whether it was Jaquan Johnson or Damar Hamlin, so putting Hyde in with a healthy Poyer (and a healthy Tre’Davious White at corner) gives Buffalo its three-headed All-Pro monster in the back end. Hyde has played well thus far in camp, and so long as he can stay healthy, I expect a good year from the solid veteran. Whether this is his last go-round in a Bills uniform remains to be seen. But for such a class act, we hope for all the best and another great year from number 23. He’ll be just fine this season.