Bills open practice window for Micah Hyde and Jamison Crowder

The Buffalo Bills may be getting healthier at the right time.

As the Bills prepared for practice on Wednesday ahead of their wild card game against the Miami Dolphins, head coach Sean McDermott announced that the team had opened the practice windows for both safety Micah Hyde and wide receiver Jamison Crowder.

The decision means that the team has 21 days to activate each player, but McDermott was clear that both players will not play against the Dolphins, which means Buffalo will need to win to have any chance to see either Hyde or Crowder on the field this season.

However, the fact that Hyde even has a chance to return is tremendous news for both the team and the player after he was placed on injured reserve with a herniated disc in his next after Week 2. At the time, Hyde was ruled out for the remainder of the season, and there was even some question about the potential of his career being impacted, so his turnaround has been remarkable.

After his injury, Hyde mentioned that the experience was “real eye-opening to me, hopping in the ambulance after or during the game and going to the hospital with my wife. I got a two-year-old, and a one-year-old and so, that life was put right in front of me, and it kind of scared me a little bit.”

In October, Hyde mentioned that “I’m just in the building, I’m trying to help out the young guys. And obviously, as far as rehab goes, I’m not able to do everything, do a lot of stuff yet, but I’m excited for this rehab process. And it’s kind of a new role for me.”

By November there were even some rumblings that a return was possible but it seemed like a longshot.

Now that longshot appears a little more likely, but it’s still not a sure thing. However, having Hyde back in the lineup would be a tremendous boost to this Bills pass defense, especially after the scary injury to his replacement, Damar Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest against the Bengals but is thankfully back home and recovering.

Hyde is a leader on the Bills’ defense and had 74 tackles, five interceptions, and 10 passes defended last year. he was a second-team All-Pro and forms a deadly tandem with Jordan Poyer. If he was able to return for potential showdowns against the Bengals and/or Chiefs, it would be a major game-changer.

“I feel good and I’m ready to go,” said Hyde, “but it’s not up to me.”

Yet, the potential return of Jamison Crowder shouldn’t be lost in the shuffle.

Crowder was brought in this offseason to split slot receiver duties with Isaiah McKenzie. McKenzie is a shifty player with tremendous athleticism who is hard to stop in man coverage, but Crowder has the route running and veteran experience to be more impactful against zone defenses. At least that was the plan.

With Crowder out since Week 4 with a fractured ankle, McKenzie has struggled in a full-time role. He has had big games against man coverage teams, like Detroit, but he has been far too inconsistent. His six drops and 62% catch rate have made him hard for Josh Allen to trust over the middle of the field, which is why Buffalo brought back Cole Beasley a couple of weeks ago.

However, since Beasley only played 14% of snaps in Week 15 against Miami and 8.6% of snaps in Week 16 against Chicago, it’s possible that Crowder could come back to take his spot.

However, both Beasley and John Brown remain on the Bills’ practice squad and the team has been using a weekly elevation to have them active on game day. As a result, the Bills would need to make a roster move in order to activate Crowder, which they wouldn’t have to do to elevate either Brown or Beasley, so that’s something to keep an eye on as we get nearer to Crowder’s potential return.