In a recent tweet Pro Football Focus posted to Twitter, they documented the season grades of the Buffalo Bills projected secondary for the 2017-18 season.
Flashback to week one of the 2016 NFL season. The Bills secondary was comprised of Stephon Gilmore, Ronald Darby, Aaron Williams, and Corey Graham. Opponents respected the Buffalo defense because of their formidable cornerbacks, defensive line, and solid safeties.
Come back to 2017 training camp and the Bills’ defensive roster looks foreign. The roster has experienced more turnover than usual. Letting go of players such as Mario Williams and Zach Brown. The area of the roster that has undergone the most change is the secondary.
Stephon Gilmore is gone. He even took to Twitter to bash his former team for its’ lack of prime time games. His effort and accountability were always in question last season. That does not take away from the amount of talent Gilmore had as a player, and how big of a loss it will be for the team this year.
Buffalo’s secondary still has its cornerback two in Ronald Darby. Except for the fact that he has now elevated to CB1. First round draft pick, Tre’Davious White will get the immediate start at CB2. Former Cleveland Brown, Jordan Poyer, starts at free safety, and Micah Hyde will round out the roster at strong safety.
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Pro Football Focus’ tweet released the season grades of the four players that will construct the Buffalo Bills secondary for the 2017 season:
- CB Ronald Darby – 62.7 – position rank 68/111
- FS Jordan Poyer – 49.4 – position rank 72/90
- SS Micah Hyde – 72.6 – position rank 55/90
- CB Tre’Davious White – Rookie
At first glance, these rankings look extremely poor, and they are. By their standards, Micah Hyde is the best player entering season because of how he has done in the past. It will be interesting to see how Hyde does while some of his flaws aren’t masked by the talented cast of safeties the Green Bay Packers possess.
The Patriots and Dolphins have deep, talented receiving cores. Probably the biggest weakness of the Bills at this point will be when our third cornerback is forced to guard someone like DeVante Parker or Malcolm Mitchell.
A majority of the fate of the Buffalo Bills’ secondary rides on the shoulders of Tre’Davious White and how he performs. It is a lot of pressure to put that on a rookie, especially a first round pick. Let’s just see if he lives up to the hype.
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Do you have faith in the Buffalo Bills secondary? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!