With a clear need at safety going into free agency, the Buffalo Bills resorted to the veteran market and signed Mike Edwards, who looks to be one of their starters in 2024.
Buffalo has been one of the few teams in the NFL to have stability in their defensive backfield in recent years. Not many teams have. One of the top safety tandems in the NFL, Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde arrived in Buffalo in 2017 and have since solidified Buffalo’s defense.
That period of time is over; Micah Hyde was not re-signed in free agency, and the Bills bravely chose to save cost space by releasing Jordan Poyer, who has since joined with Miami Dolphins.
It will be difficult for the Bills to move beyond those two. When they were on the field, their relationship anchoring Sean McDermott’s split safety defense gave the unit a lot of stability. Mike Edwards and Taylor Rapp will now have to assume control.
Edwards, who has experience as a slot corner, box defender, and free safety, will blend in well with the McDermott defense. Though his primary role is to anchor the roaming free-safety position, he possesses positional flexibility to move throughout the defensive alignment.
The Bills have a strong safety duo in Edwards and Rapp going into 2024, but the position group still has to be bolstered by youngsters, especially with Edwards only signed for one season and starting at age 28.
But one thing that the Edwards signing does offer is the capacity for patience. Safety is not going to be a pressing necessity going into the 2024 NFL Draft for Brandon Beane, so he won’t feel pressured to go above and beyond where they feel comfortable picking him.
Buffalo is now in a position where they can more easily grab the best player available, so whatever happens, if they think a safety is the best choice at 28th overall.
