Orchard Park, N.Y. — Jordan Phillips was still riding the high of signing with the Buffalo Bills a month ago, beginning his third stint with the organization, when a notification appeared on his cell phone.
The text message was from former teammate Micah Hyde.
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“Big Phil, I love you, man. Congrats,” the message read. “I’m so happy you’re back in Buffalo. You know you deserve it. They deserve it. And go get a (Super Bowl) ring.”
Before Phillips could even say thank you, he replied to Hyde with a question instead: “When you coming back?”
Hyde hasn’t taken a single snap this season. When the Bills’ season ended in January, Hyde became a free agent and decided to return to San Diego to contemplate his football future. In May, Hyde provided an update, saying if he played again, it would only be for Buffalo, where he had spent the last seven seasons. But as the months passed since, fans’ curiosity about Hyde’s potential return grew.
Hyde didn’t know he was ready to return until days before he ultimately decided. On Wednesday, Hyde signed on to the Bills’ practice squad for the rest of the 2024 season.
Buffalo coach Sean McDermott tempered expectations immediately after announcing the move. Hyde’s role for now is as a mentor to the young safety duo of Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin. Rookie Cole Bishop, the Bills’ top backup safety, never played with Hyde. The veteran All-Pro will now be available to the Utah product as he continues to learn the game.
Phillips said on Wednesday after practice that Hyde deserves to be a part of what the Bills have going on. Buffalo became just the eighth team in NFL history to clinch their division title with five weeks remaining in the season. Hyde rejoins the Bills as they turn their attention to a playoff run.
Everyone is happy to have @Micah_Hyde back in the building. 😁#GoBills | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/RELffGWGUi
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 4, 2024
The journey back to Buffalo for Hyde always seemed imminent if you ask a number of his teammates. Von Miller noticed that the team never gave away Hyde’s old locker all season. Most of the belongings he left in the stall after last season remained for most of this year.
“The crazy thing is, like within the last two weeks, they took all his stuff out the locker and I was like, ‘Damn, Micah not coming back,’” Miller said.
So Miller put the idea of Hyde’s return out of his mind. Then, on Wednesday, Miller arrived early at the Bills’ practice facility. Nobody else was in the player’s lot yet, and as he drove toward his spot, another car tried parking in the same location.
“He parks and I get out my car and I look over and I’m like, ‘That’s Micah Hyde. He’s back,’” Miller said. “You just get excited because you know what type of energy he brings to the locker room, you know his personality. You know we just got better by adding Micah Hyde.”
Hyde returns to a Buffalo defense that, while different, remains the same in many ways. His longtime safety tag team partner, Jordan Poyer, is now in Miami. His former safeties coach, Bobby Babich, is now the defensive coordinator. Tre’Davious White started the season with the Los Angeles Rams but was traded to Baltimore before the deadline. Matt Milano, a longtime staple at linebacker, made his first start for the Bills in 13 months last week against the San Francisco 49ers.
During Wednesday’s practice, Hyde was on the field, but he was doing something he hadn’t done since his days in Green Bay: He was tasked with the role of scout team running back.
“I left my ego in San Diego,” Hyde said. “The goal has always been to bring a championship back here and that’s always going to be the goal. Until that happens, you guys probably going to be tired of me, because after this season and I truly retire, maybe you might see me doing something else here until we get a championship.”
Hyde’s focus is on helping his teammates with the knowledge he has accumulated in his 11 NFL seasons.
“If I’m able to give T. Rapp, or D. Ham – or whoever’s out there – a nugget to make a big play in a big game, I did my job,” Hyde said.
Hyde said his body feels great after nearly a year without football. He dealt with numerous neck stinger injuries last season and spent his spring, summer, and fall stretching, working out, and getting mentally and physically ready. If he’s asked to play sometime this season, his body will be ready.
“I’m going to do everything I can every single day to obviously put myself in position (to play),” he said. “I’m in all the meetings, I’m watching film, so I’m already doing all that. And honestly, getting the game plan for this game, I opened it up and I looked at it and I was like, Oh, it put me right back in.”
Bills burgeoning star cornerback Christian Benford played his first two seasons with Hyde. The 24-year-old has kept in touch with Hyde, Factiming him to check in on his family and to see how he was doing. So when he sat down for breakfast at the team facility and looked up to see Hyde in the cafeteria, he thought it was pretty cool.
“He’s got the years under his belt and game experience,” Benford said. “He’s got a lot of knowledge and experience that he can provide for everybody. For the young ones and even for the older ones that maybe they didn’t get yet in their career. … Micah’s been here so people already got a feel for him. He makes sure everybody’s straight.”
Allen called Hyde one of his favorite humans and thinks the former Bills captain will help the team in any role he’s in.
“Whether (he’s) playing a little bit, a lot, or just being a resource for guys and a source of knowledge,” Allen said. “I think that’s really cool. Just the genuineness that he has, you don’t find that too often with anybody anymore. And he’s a special cat.”