Micah Hyde, clearly not a priority for the Green Bay Packers despite their woeful secondary, is officially gone. Hyde is joining the Buffalo Bills.
The #Bills are signing DB Micah Hyde. He leaves Green Bay.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 9, 2017
This was rumored Wednesday evening. Not the team, but that Hyde was aggressively pursuing opportunities elsewhere.
And that makes plenty of sense. Hyde wasn’t going to crack the starting lineup in Green Bay at his best position — safety — as long as Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Morgan Burnett are hanging around.
Hyde is getting $30 million over five years from the Bills, with $14 million guaranteed. They clearly expect him to step in and start somewhere and we expect that to be at safety.
Buffalo released safety Aaron Williams earlier on Thursday. They also lost cornerback Stephon Gilmore via free agency to New England. So there are plenty of holes to fill and a do-it-all player like Hyde makes perfect sense.
As for the Packers, it makes no sense to pay $6 million per season to a backup safety and occasional nickel back, despite the putrid state of their secondary.
Where this probably hurts the Packers most is in the return game. Hyde has been their only reliable punt returner for some time.