The Buffalo Bills Safety Swap, Revisited

Two weeks into the season, and the Buffalo Bills find one of their biggest offseason questions is giving immediate answers. They faced indomitable criticism for letting their safety position run dry with the losses of both their seven-year starters and multi-time All-Pros, Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, early this offseason. Now, just two weeks removed from the start of the season, things look like they make sense.

It was neither an easy decision, nor an easy situation they put themselves in. The Bills retained backup S and rotational starter Taylor Rapp on a three-year deal, and kept Damar Hamlin as comfortable depth, but many were unsatisfied. They sought out former Kansas City Chiefs starter Mike Edwards, and drafted Cole Bishop out of Utah, but there was still no clear pecking order. Then training camp came, and just about every safety on the roster was injured, missing considerable time. Buffalo seemed destined to rely on their default duo, the only two safeties they had with enough experience in this defense to start in Week 1. Things were far from certain.

The New Safety Situation

Over the last two weeks, they Bills defense has suffered yet more injuries. Despite it, their performance hasn't waned. The secondary has played extremely well, with Damar Hamlin and Taylor Rapp being two of only four players to have had full-time starting snaps on defense. With multiple undrafted players taking meaningful snaps, and the team missing both starting linebackers and their All-Pro slot corner, the group has allowed only 346 net passing yards (pass yards minus negative pass plays/sack yardage) through two games. Facing receivers like Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle, we couldn't ask for better. Frankly, what move can we point to that would have yielded better initial results?

The Buffalo Bills wouldn't have found those results by staying put. Just a glance at Jordan Poyer's performance thus far this season highlights why there was such a need to move on. Several of his errors, most stemming from a physical inability to make the play in time, contributed to the Bills overwhelming victory in Week 2. Poyer's performance in Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars was acceptable, but still not what the Bills needed of their safeties this season.

Now, none of this is an excuse or reason to disrespect the impact of Jordan Poyer. He and Micah Hyde formed the NFL's best safety tandem for five years. Unfortunately, even if they were both healthy, they weren't able to be that dominant pair anymore. No set of safeties that the Buffalo Bills can currently field will be better than that team was; Bringing them back was still never going to be the same. Age and injury have taken their toll. Painful as it was, moving on was a necessity. The Hyde and Poyer duo of the last two years were a physically average tandem with limited availability on the field. It was time to move on, and it's a move that's paying immediate dividends.

Now, the Bills field a separate group with none of the splendour but, thus far, all the effectiveness. As the team gets younger, healthier, and cheaper, they do everything in their power to extend the Super Bowl window Josh Allen provides.