Buffalo Bills may have solution at middle linebacker with this former Micah Hyde teammate

The Buffalo Bills may be rolling into Week 1 with Tyrel Dodson as their starting middle linebacker.

Dodson, 25, opened camp as the favorite for the job and essentially won the spot by default after Terrel Bernard suffered a hamstring injury right before the start of preseason. The problem for the Bills, however, is that Dodson’s play has been underwhelming throughout the preseason.

Buffalo could roll with Dodson or veteran A.J. Klein as their Week 1 starter at the middle linebacker, but another option emerged on Monday when it was announced that the Houston Texans were releasing Christian Kirksey.

Kirksey, 30, is a vested veteran who will not have to go through waivers. He comes with plenty of experience and has drawn interest from the Bills in the past. In 2020, Buffalo hosted Kirksey on a free agent visit before ultimately signing with the Green Bay Packers.

Kirksey is coming off of a season in which he started all 17 games with the Houston Texans. He recorded 124 total tackles (7 TFL), three sacks, seven QB hits, two interceptions and five passes defensed. While he was able to stay healthy for all of the 2022 season, Kirksey had injury issues between 2018 and 2021. At best, Kirksey would at least be a stopgap for the Bills after losing Tremaine Edmunds in free agency.

Possibly helping Buffalo land Kirksey would be his relationship with Buffalo’s starting safeties. Kirksey was teammates with Micah Hyde on the Iowa Hawkeyes and with Jordan Poyer on the Cleveland Browns. He remains close with both players and the duo will likely try to recruit him to the Bills as they did in 2020.

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