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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPN
BUFFALO, NY — After moving on from defensive mainstays this offseason by releasing safety Jordan Poyer and cornerback Tre’Davious White, the Buffalo Bills added the first player to the secondary outside the organization for 2024 by signing safety Mike Edwards on a one-year contract.
Edwards, who turns 28 in May, joins a strong room that includes Taylor Rapp, Damar Hamlin and Kendall Williamson. The two-time Super Bowl champion (Super Bowls LV and LVIII) spent last season with the Kansas City Chiefs, starting the last five regular season games and four postseason games.
“The culture of the Bills. The coaching staff… They sold me very well,” Edwards said of why he signed. “Safety-friendly, my position and the two guys (Poyer and Micah Hyde) they had, phenomenal over the last seven years… I feel like I can come in and take that role and try to get better and try to get better every week.”
Before last year with Kansas City, Edwards played four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team that selected him in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft. He started the most games (12) of his career in 2022 Edwards has recorded eight interceptions, including three pick-sixes, along with five fumble recoveries with one fumble recovery for a touchdown. His four defensive touchdowns since 2021 are tied for second (Darius Slay, four).
The safety room is one that continues to be built after Poyer signed with the Miami Dolphins following his release and Hyde remained a free agent after sharing that he would contemplate retiring this offseason. Edwards has lined up all over the place and could fill Hyde’s spot, but the move doesn’t mean the team is done addressing the position as the Bills also have 11 picks in next month’s draft.
“Hyde took on that role, tall guy, center fielder, so I really used to study his film a lot, so I feel like I may have that, some kind of traits that he had,” Edwards said. “…Just wandering around the backfield and trying to read the quarterback. He could also come in and blitz, play man-to-man, be in the box. So he could do it all.”