As the season drew to a close Micah Hyde told Taron Johnson the Buffalo Bills secondary was going to be his. Johnson couldn’t have predicted it would happen so soon.
Each offseason since being drafted in the fourth round in 2018, Johnson rarely had to question who was going to start alongside him. Four of Buffalo’s five starting defensive backs on opening day last year had been with the team since 2018, but now he’s the last man left.
When minicamp begins later this spring, Johnson will look around the defensive backs room and won’t see Jordan Poyer nor Tre’Davious White and probably not Hyde. Even Siran Neal, who was drafted by the Bills the same year as Johnson, is gone.
Hyde, Johnson, Poyer and White played 54 games together — including the playoffs — since 2018, but injuries cut the number to 14 over the last three seasons. Hyde is a free agent and the Bills released Neal, Poyer and White ahead of free agency.
But Johnson, who was set to enter the last year of his contract, was awarded a three-year, $31 million extension — a move that should save more than $4 million against the salary cap in 2024 — to keep him in Buffalo in 2017 and now he is officially the leader of the secondary.
“I have to step into a new role as far as leadership goes and just making sure that I’m presenting myself the way I’m supposed to and leading by example,” Johnson said Monday during a news conference. “And making sure I’m not only leading by example, but using my voice as well.”
Johnson is now the highest paid slot cornerback in the NFL, coming after he was named second-team All-Pro for the first time in his career. Injuries cost Johnson nine games during his first two seasons, but he has been a mainstay since 2020, playing all but one game.
He has arguably been Buffalo’s most important defensive player over the last two seasons, not just because his combination of coverage and tackling allowed the Bills to play five defensive backs more than 95% of the time, but because he’s the team’s only defensive starter not to miss a game, while Hyde, Poyer and White lost a combined 45 games to injury during the span.
Although Johnson said he was expecting to sign an extension for a few days prior to Monday, he was surprised when Poyer and White were released to help the Bills become salary cap compliant ahead of free agency.
“It’s gonna be tough, it’s gonna take some time, but that’s what OTAs is for,” Johnson said. “Get in with a new group of guys, help us fellowship with each other and just get to know each other better. And that way, it’ll translate on the field.”
The faces are only going to get newer, as Neal and Poyer have signed with Miami and Dane Jackson signed with Carolina. When the season ended, the Bills secondary had accumulated 675 games and 439 starts in coach Sean McDermott’s Buffalo defense, but those numbers now sit at 229 games and 123 starts, with Johnson being the only current defensive back with more than four years of experience with the team.
Johnson has started 67 of his 88 career games and the next closest Buffalo defensive back is Christian Benford, who has started 19 games in two NFL seasons. Johnson, who will turn 28 before the season starts, seemed aware of what his new role is going to be.
“It’s just really staying consistent,” Johnson said. “And not only with the work that I put in, but as far as like bringing guys along and maybe I have to say something, maybe I might step on some guys’ toes, if that needs to happen. But I’m willing to do what it takes to win.”