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Bills RB Nyheim Hines Set to Wear Coveted Jersey Number

Veteran running back Nyheim Hines has a new number for his first full season with the Buffalo Bills.

Tim Kelly

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Buffalo Bills running back/kick returner Nyheim Hines will don a new number for the 2023 season, the team announced this week. 

Hines will wear No. 0, becoming the first player on the Bills to do so since owners agreed in March to unfreeze the number. While offensive and defensive linemen still can't wear zero on their uniforms, running backs, quarterbacks, fullbacks, tight ends, defensive backs and kickers are now eligible to do so.

Acquired in a mid-season trade from the Indianapolis Colts, Hines struggled to assimilate into Buffalo's offense, catching just five passes for 53 yards and rushing for -3 yards on six carries in nine games with the Bills. By comparison, the receiving back had 25 catches for 188 yards in seven games for a bad Colts team before getting traded. 

However, Hines did provide one of the most incredible moments of the 2022 regular season, returning two kickoffs for touchdowns in Buffalo's first game after Damar Hamlin's on-field cardiac arrest: 

Across five NFL seasons, Hines has 240 catches for 1,778 yards and eight touchdowns. He's unlikely to be the solution to Buffalo's seemingly never-ending search to find a running back to alleviate some pressure on Josh Allen. But if the Bills are able to better incorporate him into the passing game in 2023, it would be a shot in the arm for their offense. 

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Tim Kelly
TIM KELLY

Tim Kelly is a contributor to SI's NFL team sites. Additionally, Kelly covers the Philadelphia Phillies as the Editorial Director for PhilliesNation.com. Previously, Kelly has been a producer at SportsRadio 94 WIP and a content producer for Audacy Sports, with written content syndicated to WIP, WFAN, WEEI and some of the biggest sports radio stations in the country. Kelly also has contributed to Bleacher Report, Just Baseball, Sports Talk Philly and Section 215, FanSided's Philadelphia affiliate. Kelly is a 2018 graduate of Bloomsburg University, with a major in Mass Communications and a minor in political science. 

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