ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WIVB) — Micah Hyde is back on the Bills.
Hyde, the safety who played the past seven seasons in Buffalo and was a defensive captain, was signed to the team’s practice squad on Wednesday. The 12th-year NFL veteran will turn 34 at the end of December.
“It’s good to have him back,” coach Sean McDermott said before Wednesday’s walk-through pratice.
A second-team All-Pro selection in 2017 and 2021, Hyde battled neck injuries over the past two seasons but started 16 games including the playoffs in 2023. Hyde indicated after the season that he was contemplating retirement. Bills general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott continually expressed that Hyde could be welcomed back, and the team never assigned his jersey No. 23 or locker to another player.
For now, the Bills will expect “respectfully, very little,” on-field contributions, McDermott said, but Hyde’s locker room impact will be felt right away.
“The leadership piece, for sure,” McDermott said. “”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.”
Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin have been starting at safety this season for the Bills (10-2), who have won seven in a row and are within a game of the Chiefs (11-1) for the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs.
Hyde can be elevated from the practice squad to play in three regular season games before the Bills would need to sign him to the active roster. The elevation count then resets for the postseason.
Wide receiver Deon Cain was released from the practice squad to make room for Hyde.
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.