The Buffalo Bills made what was, on paper, an innocent transaction on Thursday afternoon. releasing rookie defensive tackle Zion Logue from their active roster. The move, while not necessarily expected, was not surprising; Logue had played just 36 defensive snaps since joining the Bills before 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 defensemen on the 53-man roster, and even appeared to have fallen in the proverbial pecking order below practice squad lineman Eli Ankou; It no longer made sense to keep the first-year player on the active unit.
The much more interesting piece of information to emerge from the release concerns the roster composition, as the trade left the Bills with just 52 players on their 53-man roster. Fans immediately began speculating how the team would use the newly created roster spot, with re-signing veteran safety Micah Hyde an oft-mentioned possibility.
And while these are natural dots to connect given the team’s perceived need for safety and Hyde’s availability, is this a path Buffalo should take? Would a 33-year-old Hyde, who hasn’t played a football game since late January, be a clear upgrade over the Bills’ starting options? And if he isn’t brought back to take over a starting gig, would that be an opportunity that would leave the veteran in quasi-retirement?
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Fans have long viewed Hyde’s eventual re-enlistment as an inevitability, and for good reason; the defensive back, who earned two All-Pro nods while starting 95 games for the team from 2017 to 2023, left One Bills Drive after his contract expired last spring but did not sign with another club after playing several had stated many times that he is not yet sure if he will play football again, but if he does, it will be for Buffalo. Bills management is also keeping that door open, with both general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott stating several times throughout the summer that they are open to the idea of re-signing Hyde; the side boss recently stated in October that bringing back the old team captain “always on (the team’s) radar.”
The reunion makes sense in theory for a whole host of reasons. Hyde was one of the best safeties in the league in his prime and (alongside Jordan Poyer) expertly provided a safety net over Buffalo’s defense. Having played in Orchard Park for seven years, he knows the plan like the back of his hand and could hypothetically fit right back into the lineup. Combine this with the perceived lack of top-level play from Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin this season and the team’s recent release of Mike Edwardsand using the recently vacated roster spot at Hyde seems like a no-brainer.
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While everything seems rosy on paper, Hyde’s health is the elephant in the room. He missed the vast majority of the 2022 season after suffering a Week 2 neck injury that required surgery, and although 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 future as a player, and told his former teammate he is still dealing with complications from the injury and subsequent surgery and may need another surgery within a few years.
Also consider that Hyde, while not poor, showed signs of aging in 2023 and has again not played football or taken part in training since January, and it may be unfair to suggest he would be a clear upgrade over Rapp or, more likely, Hamlin at this point. It’s entirely possible that Hyde, given his experience, could get back on track quickly and look somewhat like his former self in the postseason, but that’s no guarantee; Coming off the bench and into an NFL starting lineup isn’t that easy. While his return to the NFL is ultimately his choice, both his immediate and long-term health are also major concerns.
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Hamlin is the player most fans are pegging as the starter who would replace Hyde, and while the fourth-year defenseman hasn’t been great this year, his play may have been criticized too much. He has made 57 tackles so far, showing significant progress in this area of the game as he has become a reliable player in run support. He also leads the team in pass deflections with five; He’s, again, by no means a world-beater, but he’s not necessarily a glaring weak spot either. A top-of-the-line Hyde would be a definite upgrade over him; a Hyde who hasn’t played football in almost eleven months and is still dealing with the effects of a significant neck injury may not be.
The Buffalo faithful may counter this and say Hyde could simply 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. Again, this is fine in theory, but is this an opportunity Hyde would take? Would he leave his proverbial bank to become an insurance policy? And how is that arrangement so different from the ‘wait and see’ approach currently in place, short of an official contract?
The creation of a roster spot and the fast-approaching postseason only made the reemergence of Hyde talk only natural, but it may not be as big a signing as some fans think it would be. Is it possible he could come in and once again be the player Bills fans fell in love with during his lauded tenure? Certainly, but it may be just as likely that his impact at this point won’t be as great as it once was, or even much more noticeable than Hamlin’s. Re-signing Hyde wouldn’t ultimately be a bad use of the roster spot, but it might not be the pendulum-shifting trade some think it would be.
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