Should Bills use recently-created roster spot on S Micah Hyde?

The Buffalo Bills created a roster spot on Thursday by releasing Zion Logue. Should they fill it by re-signing veteran safety Micah Hyde?

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The Buffalo Bills made an, on paper, innocuous transaction on Thursday afternoon, releasing rookie defensive tackle Zion Logue from their active roster. The move, while not necessarily expected, was unsurprising; Logue had played on only 36 defensive snaps since joining the Bills ahead of Week 5, and the rookie had just been pushed further down the depth chart with Buffalo’s Wednesday signings of defensive tackles Jordan Phillips and Quinton Jefferson. Logue was one of six interior defenders on the 53-man roster, and it even looked as though he had fallen below practice squad lineman Eli Ankou in the proverbial pecking order; keeping the first-year player around on the active unit no longer made sense.

The far more interesting nugget of information emerging from the release relates to roster construction, as the transaction left the Bills with just 52 players on their 53-man roster. Fans immediately began to speculate how the team would use its newly-created roster spot, with the re-signing of veteran safety Micah Hyde being an oft-floated possibility.

And while these are natural dots to connect given the team’s perceived need at safety and Hyde’s availability, is this a path Buffalo should embark on? Would a 33-year-old Hyde, who has not played in a football game since late January, be a clear upgrade over either of the Bills’ starting options? And if he’s not being brought back to take over a starting gig, would that be an opportunity that the veteran would leave quasi-retirement for?

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Fans have long viewed the ultimate re-signing of Hyde as an inevitability, and this isn’t without reason; the defensive back, who earned two All-Pro nods as he started 95 games for the team from 2017–2023, left One Bills Drive upon the expiration of his contract this past spring but did not sign with another club, since stating on several occasions that he’s not yet sure if he’ll play football again, but if he does, it will be for Buffalo. The Bills’ brass is, too, keeping that door open, with both general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott stating on several occasions throughout the summer that they’re open to the idea of re-signing Hyde; the sideline boss stated as recently as October that the bringing back the long-time team captain is “always on [the team’s] radar.”

The reunion makes sense, in theory, for a bevy of reasons. Hyde, in his prime, was one of the league’s best safeties and (alongside Jordan Poyer) expertly provided a safety net over the top of Buffalo’s defense. Having been in Orchard Park for seven years, he knows the scheme like the back of his hand and would hypothetically be able to slot right back into the lineup. Combine this with the perceived lack of top-tier play from Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin this season and the team’s recent release of Mike Edwards, and using the recently freed roster spot on Hyde seems like a no-brainer.

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While everything seems rosy on paper, the elephant in the room here is Hyde’s health. He missed the vast majority of the 2022 season after suffering a Week 2 neck injury that required surgery, and while he returned in 2023, he would suffer several stringers over the course of the year, missing three games. The defender appeared on the Centered on Buffalo podcast with former Bills center Eric Wood in June to discuss his playing future, telling his former teammate that he’s still dealing with complications of the injury and subsequent surgery and that he may have to have another operation performed within the next few years.

Also consider that Hyde, while not poor, was showing signs of aging in 2023 and that he, again, has not played football or participated in a practice since January, and it may be disingenuous to suggest that he’d be a clear upgrade over Rapp or, more likely, Hamlin at this juncture. It’s entirely possible that Hyde, given his experience, would quickly get back into the swing of things and be some semblance of his former self come the postseason, but that’s not a guarantee; coming off the couch and slotting into an NFL starting lineup isn’t all that simple a task. While his return to the NFL is ultimately his choice, his both immediate and long-term health are also significant concerns. 

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Hamlin is the player that most fans point to as the starter Hyde would replace, and while the fourth-year defender hasn’t been stellar this year, his play has perhaps been over-criticized. He’s made 57 tackles thus far, showing significant strides in this area of the game as he’s become a reliable player in run support. He also leads the team in pass deflections with five; he’s, again, not a world-beater by any means, but he’s not necessarily a glaring weak spot, either. A prime Hyde would be a clear upgrade over him; a Hyde who hasn’t played football in nearly 11 months and is still dealing with the effects of a significant neck injury may not be.

The Buffalo faithful may counter this and say that Hyde could simply just be a depth signing after the recent release of Edwards, a reliable veteran who knows the system and can be used in a 'break glass in case of emergency' scenario. This is, again, fine in theory, but is this an opportunity that Hyde would jump at? Would he leave his proverbial couch to be an insurance policy? And how is that arrangement all that different from the “wait and see” approach currently in place, aside from an official contract?

The creation of a roster spot and the rapidly approaching postseason made the re-emergence of Hyde talks only natural, but it may not be as slam-dunk of a signing as some fans believe it would be. Is it possible that he’d come in and again be the player that Bills fans fell in love with throughout his lauded tenure? Sure, but it’s perhaps just as likely that his impact would not be as significant as it once was or even all that more discernible than that of Hamlin, at this juncture. Re-signing Hyde ultimately wouldn’t be a bad utilization of the roster spot, but it may not be the pendulum-shifting transaction that some believe it would be.

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