Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde are named as two of the top safeties in the NFL by Pro Football Focus
When ranking the safeties, Pro Football Focus took a different approach than some of the other positions. While they broke the players into tiers, they didn’t necessarily rank the safeties in the NFL across the different tiers and both Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde made the list in the same category.
The safety duo of Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer has been a strength of the Buffalo Bills since Sean McDermott took over as head coach. In fact, Hyde and Poyer were two of the first free agents signed by McDermott after he joined the franchise in 2017.
Over the years, they have developed into one of the top safety duos in the NFL and one of the reasons is that they both compliment each other so well. Sam Monson at Pro Football Focus put both in the All-Around Tier with Hyde being ranked third and Poyer only one spot behind at fourth.
"Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer each fit into this category for the Buffalo Bills and together may form the best safety duo in the league. Each can line up anywhere they are needed within the scheme and playing next to one another is clearly a force multiplier for their success. Buffalo runs a scheme that puts them in position to succeed, but they take advantage of it extremely well on their own."
The fact that the Bills have two safeties that can really do anything a defense would want from that position, from playing as a box safety close to the line to dropping back into coverage, helps McDermott and Leslie Frazier disguise their coverage. If they had one or the other safety at the line of scrimmage, it doesn’t tip off what the play might be.
The biggest question for the Buffalo Bills is how much longer the team will have these two together at the position. Jordan Poyer is entering the final year of his contract and it has been made clear that he is looking for a new deal. He has not been at OTAs yet this year and McDermott described his absence as “business is business“.
It will be interesting to see how this progresses and if the two sides are able to reach an agreement on a new contract or if this is the final season for Jordan Poyer with the Buffalo Bills.