Free-agent safety Micah Hyde would like to play for Bills in 2024

The Buffalo Bills have cut ties with multiple veteran players this offseason to make some salary cap space and bring in youth through the 2024 NFL Draft. However, one key member from the 2023 Bills remains a free agent: Micah Hyde.

After playing the last seven seasons in Buffalo, the 11-year safety says he would like to suit up one more time in a Bills uniform.

“I just want to be healthy,” Hyde said at his charity softball game on Sunday, via WIVB 4. “I’m enjoying my time with the family. And if there’s a case where I can get back on the football field, I would love to do it. Especially in this uniform, in front of these fans. It would mean the world to me and my family to be able to do that. But you know, it’s a ways away. I woke up a few times last couple weeks with sore necks.”

Hyde, 33, entered the free agent market after a campaign in which he played 14 games and helped Buffalo overcome a subpar start to the season to reach the AFC Divisional Round. In the contests he played, Hyde participated in a total of 92% of the defensive snaps for head coach Sean McDermott’s defense. He recorded 54 tackles and two interceptions for his unit, which ranked fourth in scoring in 2023.

If Hyde returns to Buffalo, he will no longer have his longtime teammate and fellow safety Jordan Poyer by his side. Poyer, who was released by the Bills in March and signed with the Miami Dolphins, teamed up with Hyde one last time on the field Sunday to raise money for Hyde’s Imagine for Youth Foundation. The charity softball game raised more than $625,000.

Other Bills players were in attendance from Josh Allen, Mitchell Trubisky, Dion Dawkins, A.J. Epenesa, Terrel Bernard and Damar Hamlin.

With former teammates surrounding Hyde at the end of his charity event, Allen made a final pitch and grabbed the microphone to lead a chant of “One more year” for Hyde’s return to Buffalo.

“We’ll have the softball game one more time,” Hyde responded to the crowd chanting along.