Micah Hyde's 12th NFL season will begin in the same place his 11th ended: Buffalo.
He intends to finish his career there, too. Hyde is joining the Bills practice squad, the team announced Wednesday, and he guaranteed his retirement at the end of the 2024 season, making for one last dance with the only team he's known since 2017.
"Not surprised [by Hyde's return], but really not surprised when any of these players come back," Bills coach Sean McDermott said Wednesday. "Players that leave here to go to play for other teams or, in this case, not play for another team, they seem to keep pretty close tabs on what we're doing, which is cool."
A fifth-round pick out of Iowa in 2013, Hyde began his career in Green Bay, playing four years with the Packers before leaving for Buffalo in 2017. He joined the Bills just two months after the team hired McDermott as their head coach, spending the next seven seasons with Buffalo as part of a stalwart safety tandem with Jordan Poyer.
Poyer left for AFC East rival Miami in early 2024, signaling the end of an era. Hyde, however, remained unemployed up until this week, riding out the bulk of the season away from any NFL team while Buffalo restocked the safeties group with the likes of Taylor Rapp, Damar Hamlin, Cole Bishop, Kareem Jackson and Mike Edwards (who has since been released and has returned to Tampa Bay).
It appears as if December was the right time for Hyde -- a longtime fan favorite in Buffalo -- to get back on the horse for one final ride toward the same goal the Bills have had since Hyde and McDermott arrived: win a Super Bowl.
Now, that doesn't mean he'll necessarily play a part in the on-field action. McDermott was quick to note Hyde's status as a practice squad player, expressing full confidence in the aforementioned quartet of safeties. At minimum, Hyde's addition to the practice squad represents the return of a player with plenty of experience in McDermott's defense and wisdom to lend to his teammates.
If they find themselves in a personnel pinch, the Bills will also have a trusted defender available to elevate from the practice squad as the season enters the home stretch.
"I say this respectfully: Very little," McDermott said when asked what he expects from Hyde. "We're in a good spot. Very confident in the guys that have played there all season long. … Very little from the standpoint of… Just managing expectations is why I'm saying that. Very little from 'hey, you're gonna come in and you're gonna play and you're gonna help.'
"Let's just take it one day at a time. Let's, number one, make sure everybody understands what his role is right now, and we'll just see. We'll just take it one day at a time. It's about the team. It's always about the team. It's never about one person. In that case, Micah would not want that to be in this case about him."
From the larger viewpoint, it's not about Hyde. But it's still fun to see a fan favorite return to a team with Super Bowl aspirations. And if Buffalo finally clears the hurdle that has repeatedly stymied them over the last half-decade, it will have all been worth it for Hyde.
