Pittsford, N.Y. (WGR 550) – When Micah Hyde went out in Week 2 last season with a neck injury, it ended his year. Hyde needed surgery, and he didn’t know if he’d ever play football again.
However, the veteran safety is back at St. John Fisher University in Rochester for his 11th career training camp.
"When it first happened, I didn’t know what the outcome was going to be. I thought I was done," said Hyde during his meeting with the media on Friday. "But I had a conversation with the doctor a couple of weeks ago, and the realization that it’s way better."
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Hyde admitted he's very much looking forward to the pads coming on for Sunday’s practice.
Even though head coach Sean McDermott has taken over as defensive coordinator, there’s not going to be a huge change. Hyde is glad he’s there, and says there will be one change that he sees.
"I don’t see many differences now, because the playbook is the playbook. We’ve had this playbook for years, but just the way Sean calls plays, you’ve got to get used to it," Hyde said.
"I’ve always seen the energy in him as the head coach, but popping into the defensive meeting more is cool to see. Sean’s always been aggressive, and you can see that. He’s a former wrestler, he has that wrestling mentality, so when he’s in a defensive meeting, you can tell he wants to be aggressive. Now we’re trying to get an understanding of how he’s calling stuff."
Bills safety Jordan Poyer also missed four games last season due to an elbow injury. Even when he came back, you could tell it was hampering his play.
Poyer was a free agent during the offseason, but elected to come back to the Bills. Hyde couldn’t be happier to have his partner in the secondary back.
"It’s truly awesome to have 'Po' come back.," Hyde said. "Through his whole contract situation, he was letting me know what’s going on, and because we really didn’t know what was going to be going on. We see the same things every single day on the field, so it’s a blessing to have him back, because I play my best game when he’s healthy."
Hyde is 32-years-old, so he’s not going to be able to play in the NFL for too much longer. He says that’s why everything he does has a sense of urgency.
"The young guys probably think, at times, that I’m psycho, because I have more urgency because I understand that those years have passed. You don’t have time to give away playoff games and come up short," Hyde said.
Josh Allen is entering his sixth season as Hyde’s teammate, and the safety couldn’t be happier, because he thinks Allen is Buffalo through-and-through.
"I love Josh. I love everything that he brings to the table, and he’s a perfect guy for this organization," Hyde said.
Probably the biggest thing the Bills missed when Hyde was out of the lineup was his experience. Others can play the game, but they didn’t have the experience to recognize quickly what was coming at them. Hyde says knowing he could’ve helped made sitting out even harder.
"It was very tough, because you put in all the hours of film work together, and you can’t be on the field," he said. "When you’re off the field, it’s tough to see that nucleus that we’ve had around here for a long time was broken a little bit. So it was very tough, it was tough to watch. But it’s given us extra motivation, because it can be gone like that. You never know when it could be our last snap."
This will be Hyde’s seventh year with the Bills after spending his first four seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
