Incomparable Micah Hyde will cash in, with Packers or someone else
INDIANAPOLIS — It’s a question Micah Hyde might hear when NFL teams start calling him or his agent, Jack Bechta, next week when free agency opens.
“Who in the league reminds you of yourself?” Bechta asked his client.
Hyde thought and thought and thought.
“I just looked at him, and I said, ‘Nobody,’” Hyde said. “’Nobody in the league.’”
Bechta already was deep into his preparation for Hyde’s first foray into free agency, but it never hurts to have comparables when it comes to determining and setting the market. In reality, however, there are few players who can do everything the versatile defensive back has done for the Green Bay Packers the past four seasons.
“Obviously, there are guys in the league that play the nickel position,” Hyde said of the slot defensive-back spot that was his primary position.
But that’s hardly the only place Hyde lined up. He’s played the traditional safety spot. He’s played in the slot as either the nickel (fifth defensive back) or dime (sixth DB). He’s played the outside cornerback spot, where he was lined up when he picked off Lions QB Matthew Stafford with 1 minute, 30 seconds left in the regular-season finale at Detroit to help the Packers clinch the NFC North title and make the playoffs. Even before that game, Lions receiver Golden Tate called Hyde a “jack of all trades.”
“Maybe there’s a couple of guys who can play any position in the secondary,” Hyde said in a phone interview from his offseason home in San Diego. “But if you put all that together, no one’s back there returning punts, returning kickoffs or being the fullback on the punt team.
“That’s why my confidence is at an all-time high.”
Add it all up, and it will likely take a big offer from the Packers to retain him. Until Friday, Hyde hadn’t heard anything from the team that drafted him in the fifth round out of Iowa in 2013. Bechta and Packers contract negotiator Russ Ball met Friday at the NFL scouting combine to discuss Hyde’s future.
“It’s obvious I would love to be back in Green Bay,” Hyde said. “That’s the best place for me — the people there, the organization, the coaches, my teammates. It’s been a blessing to be there the last four years, so I would love to continue to be there for many years to come. But at the same time, there really hasn’t been any conversation. This isn’t something that’s rare; this happens sometimes.”
Ball has met with the agents for most — if not all — of the Packers’ pending free agents. ESPN confirmed that Ball sat down at the combine with the agents for the following players: tight end Jared Cook, running back Eddie Lacy, guard T.J. Lang, center JC Tretter and Hyde. It’s likely the Packers did the same with the agents for pass-rushers Julius Peppers, Nick Perry and Datone Jones.
“I think our players over the course of the years — and now we’re talking about players who’ve retired and moved onto other things in life — I think our players appreciate the fact that the organization tried its best to keep their own players,” Packers general manager Ted Thompson said at the combine. “I think our former players and current players appreciate it.”
But Hyde might be among the toughest to sign, because he’ll want a deal commensurate with veteran starting safeties, given how prominent the nickel and dime defensive packages have become because of the prevalence of three- and four-receiver sets.
Hyde played nearly 1,000 snaps last season, although he couldn’t finish the NFC Championship Game because of a shoulder injury that he said is now healed. He’s played in all but one game in his pro career.
The 26-year-old has tried to keep his mind off the stress of free agency. He’s traveled with family and friends since the season ended, but returned this week to San Diego to await word on his future. When asked what advice Bechta gave him about the free-agent process, Hyde said: “Just enjoy it. Don’t get too stressed out about it. I’m confident in what I put out on film and what I did for the team.”
