Safety Micah Hyde rejoins the Buffalo Bills after being signed to practice squad

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Safety Micah Hyde has rejoined the Buffalo Bills by signing to the practice squad on Wednesday in a late-season move that brings experience, stability, leadership and familiarity with the defensive scheme to the five-time defending AFC East champions.

In announcing the move, coach Sean McDermott stressed that as much as he welcomes Hyde’s addition, it in no way reflects on Buffalo’s safety group led by starters Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin.

Hyde’s return shouldn’t surprise anyone after the 33-year-old and the team spent the past eight months keeping the door open for such a possibility.

“The leadership piece, for sure,” McDermott said.

“I’ve said this when he was here playing, he could go down to the bank at the corner and be the president of the bank just as easy as he could be the captain of the Buffalo Bills, right?” he added. “So he just has a unique way about him from a leadership standpoint of who he is as a person and his presence and the way he’s very adaptable to people and to his surroundings.”

Hyde is an 11-year NFL veteran who spent the previous seven seasons in Buffalo and was not re-signed in March after completing the final year of his contract. In considering retirement, Hyde noted he’d only play for Buffalo if he decided to resume his career.

“We’re in a good spot, very confident in the guys that have played there all season long and have both done a nice job,” McDermott said of having no plans to shake up his safety group with Hyde’s addition. “It’s about the team. It’s always about the team, and it’s never about one person. And in this case, Micah would not want that to be, in this case, about him.”

Though it’s unclear if or when Hyde will play, the former defensive captain brings insight and leadership to a team that is off to a 10-2 start and coming off a division-clinching 35-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers. The Bills travel to play the Los Angeles Rams (6-6) on Sunday.

After missing a majority of the 2022 season with a severe neck injury, Hyde returned to start 14 games last season.

Hyde and Jordan Poyer formed the Bills starting safety tandem since they were among the first two players signed by the Bills in free agency in March 2017, months after McDermott was hired as coach. Poyer was released by Buffalo in March and now plays for Miami.

Hyde spent his first four seasons in Green Bay before signing with Buffalo, where he earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2017 and 2021.

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