Report: Veteran Bills safety is 'available,' would like to be traded

ESPN reports that Buffalo Bills defensive back Mike Edwards is available in trade talks.

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The Buffalo Bills and veteran safety Mike Edwards are mutually open to a parting of ways, according to ESPN. Reporter Jeremy Fowler wrote on Wednesday that the defensive back is obtainable and that the veteran would like to join a team for which he will play.

“Veteran Buffalo safety Mike Edwards is available and would like to go somewhere he can play (he has been a steady inactive),” Fowler wrote in his weekly ‘NFL buzz’ article.

Edwards, a two-time Super Bowl champion who had started 28 career games entering the 2024 campaign, signed a one-year deal with the Bills in March after the team revamped its defensive backfield. Stalwarts Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, who combined for 202 starts over their seven years in Orchard Park, were shown the exit door in the spring, prompting Buffalo to sign Edwards to provide some veteran insurance.

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Though he missed the majority of OTAs with a shoulder injury, the 28-year-old entered training camp in a three-way competition with Damar Hamlin and rookie Cole Bishop to earn a starting job in the Bills’ secondary. He quickly picked up a hamstring injury that again kept him off the field and prevented him from properly acclimating to the defense; by the time he was healthy, Hamlin had secured a healthy hold on a starting safety role alongside Taylor Rapp.

Once viewed as a potential starter, Edwards is now Buffalo’s fourth-choice safety and is, thus, often an inactive. He’s been left off the gameday roster for five of the Bills’ eight games thus far this year, playing on only seven defensive snaps when active. The defender has a base salary of just $225,000, per OverTheCap, and is, thus, a digestible acquisition for most clubs; the NFL trade deadline is on November 5.

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