Indianapolis, Ind. (WGR 550) - With the very real possibility the Buffalo Bills may not have, at least, one of, and maybe even both Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer back next season, general manager Brandon Beane may be facing something he hasn’t had to in his previous seven years as general manager: Finding, at least, one starting safety, if not two.
The duo have been a rarity in the NFL: A starting safety tandem for seven-straight seasons.
However, Hyde just turned 33-years-old, and his contract is up in March. He played last year coming off a severe neck injury, and dealt with neck stinger issues last season.
Poyer will be 33 in April, and is still under contract for one more year. The Bills can clear $5.7 million of his $7.7 million salary cap hit by releasing him, should they want to go that route.
If Beane does have to go looking for a new starter on the back end, whether via the draft or free agency, don’t necessary look for it to be a player who jumps off the page with his size or athletic traits.
"I think instincts are really big at safety," said Beane with reporters on Tuesday at the annual NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
"If you’re telling me, 'You can have an athletic guy that’s a 4.3 [in the 40-yard dash], 4.4 safety but he doesn’t have instincts,' I’ll take the 4.6 guy with instincts, ball skills, and a little less range."
The Bills signed Hyde and Poyer in 2017, a few months before Beane’s arrival in Orchard Park.
Hyde was coming off four productive years in Green Bay, where he was a fifth-round pick by the Packers. At the Combine prior to being drafted in 2013, he ran a 4.56 40-yard dash.
Poyer was taken in the seventh round of that exact same draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, 59 picks after Hyde and with just 37 choices remaining in the entire draft.
He was released by the Eagles just five weeks into his NFL career, playing just three games.
The Cleveland Browns claimed Poyer, where he playing mostly as a backup safety and on special teams for two-plus seasons. He was injured during his fourth season and missed the final 10 games.
The Bills signed Poyer as an unrestricted free agent the following offseason.
Poyer ran a very similar 40-yard dash as Hyde at that 2013 NFL Combine, clocking a time of 4.54.
Both stand at 6-feet tall, both weigh less than 200 pounds. So neither has the stature or athletic numbers that might make teams drool.
However, Beane has seen up-close and personal for seven years how impactful both have been, and knows neither can be readily replaced.
If he has to do it, he’d like someone just like either of the two.
"You’re always looking for those guys,” Beane said. "I’ll take that guy over some freaky athlete that’s missing some the key components of a good safety."
The added benefit of players like Hyde and Poyer is they don’t often cost high draft capital or top-of-the-market salaries, because teams would often rather draft or sign those with the measurables.
So as the Bills look at how to approach the position via free agency and the draft, Beane points to another one of his former players as a great example of that.
“We had a guy, Kurt Coleman, he came in at the end in Buffalo. But we had him in Carolina our Super Bowl year. We added him on like a minimum deal because Kurt’s not big, tall, fast, strong, but he’s got great ball skills, he’s got great instincts, and he brings an edge. A dog mentality, and he goes and has like nine interceptions for us, counting the postseason, which was a big part of our run.”
