The Buffalo Bills are a prime candidate to make moves in free agency to bolster a playoff team trying to get over the hump to a Super Bowl.
Keeping linebacker Matt Milano is step one in the offseason plan, but additional moves, particularly in the trenches, could be coming when the new league year opens on March 17.
Veteran safety Micah Hyde told SiriusXM NFL Radio he'd help make a pitch to free agents, noting that this isn't the same Buffalo team that sat in the cellar much of the previous two decades.
"That's kind of the pitch I have to free agents; yeah, it's going to snow, but this isn't the old Buffalo, this is the new Buffalo, this is the Josh Allen Buffalo," Hyde said. "We're winning ballgames, scoring points, and playing well on defense. I'm excited to see what (GM Brandon) Beane and (coach) Sean (McDermott) are able to do with some free agents."
The definition of "old Buffalo" depends on how far back you go. In 2020, the Bills won their first AFC East title and playoff game since 1995. Before then, Jim Kelly's Buffalo squad went to four straight Super Bowls. Between those periods is the wasteland Hyde is referencing.
Last offseason, the Bills spent time buffering Allen with playmakers on the outside. This year, the offensive line, edge rusher and corner are the priorities. Improving those positions isn't as sexy as trading for Stefon Diggs, but upgrading the trenches would go a long way in pulling Buffalo closer to Kansas City in the race for AFC supremacy.
Once upon a time, Hyde was a free agent who got paid handsomely to move to Buffalo from Green Bay. From a perennial winner to an annual fixer-upper. Now that the Bills have turned it around, Hyde says winning in Buffalo is unique, even compared to that other smaller-town NFL club.
"There is nothing like it," Hyde said of winning in Buffalo. "I was winning in Green Bay. Obviously, that was fun. It was a blast. We had a hell of a time. But winning in Buffalo is totally different. The whole city is on fire."
