AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) — Micah Hyde continues to take his time in deciding whether to continue his NFL career. But the veteran mainstay of Buffalo’s defense reiterated Thursday that the Bills are the only team he would play for.
“It’s Bills or retire,” Hyde said during a promotional appearance for his charity softball game Sunday at Sahlen Field in downtown Buffalo. “I’m not going anywhere else. That’s for sure.”
Returning to Western New York from his offseason home in San Diego the night before, Hyde visited with Bills general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott at the team facility in Orchard Park on Thursday before meeting reporters at event sponsor Northtown Toyota’s showroom. Hyde spoke to Bills players and posted a sign-up sheet for the softball game, for which he expects more than 30 participants, including star quarterback and home run derby favorite Josh Allen.
“It’s just cool that I’m technically not even on the team right now,” Hyde said. “I just got done talking to the players and they are all super excited to come.”
Committed to continuing his softball game in Buffalo, which will be played for the fourth time in five years, Hyde said he’s in no hurry to decide on his football future.
“There’s no rush at all on my side,” Hyde said. “I’ve been an open book with Beane and Sean. Just got down talking to them. And we’re all on the same page. I’m 33 years old man. I want to have a healthy life. And my family is the most important thing to me. At the same time, I do want to win a Super Bowl. That would be pretty damn awesome. So we’ll see. We’ll take it day by day.”
Hyde said he has been working out and swimming with his children in San Diego to maintain his conditioning, and recently went on a 10k run.
“Just to do it, see what my best time would be,” Hyde said. “I’m kind of insane like that, I’m wired like that. It felt pretty good. I like to challenge myself.
“You know, obviously football is a whole different game, it’s a violent game, we all know it. You’ve got to have your head on right to be out there. You can’t be half on the field, half off. You’ve got to be full go when you’re out there, so that’s what I’m trying to get to. If it doesn’t happen then I can honestly sit down and just be like ‘I gave it everything I could.’
“I’ve tried to be open with everybody throughout this whole process. I don’t want to steer anybody wrong. The last thing I want to do is be half go and Beane calls me up and says ‘let’s go,’ and I’m out there and I just realize I don’t want to be. That’s not me. I’ve always taken pride in going out there and making plays and helping my team win and doing whatever I can to help the team win, so I wouldn’t do that. I appreciate this organization too much to do something like that, so trying to get full go, and if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.”
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.