Why this NFL Analyst thinks rookie S Cole Bishop is a great fit for Bills' defense

To liken a football secondary to a Western New York staple, safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer go together like deep-fried chicken wings and buttered-down hot sauce—the two are individually great, but when paired, create magic. And Hyde and Poyer have engrained themselves into the very fabric of the Buffalo Bills throughout the past several years much in the way that chicken wings have been engrained into the Buffalo culture; both defensive backs have been stalwarts since signing with the Bills in the 2017 offseason, combining for 202 starts, three All-Pro teams, and two Pro Bowls while effectively establishing ‘no-fly’ zone on the backend of the Buffalo defense. 

The Hyde and Poyer tandem was almost universally viewed as one of the best safety tandems in the NFL at its peak, an interchangeable duo that allowed the rest of Buffalo’s defense to properly function. A good thing, however, can only last for so long. It wasn’t a regime change, scheme shift, or falling out that dismantled the duo—it was biology. Both Hyde and Poyer, now 33 years of age, have missed time throughout the past two seasons; Hyde missed all but two games of the 2022 NFL season due to a neck injury while Poyer missed five games due primarily to an arm ailment. The two combined for four missed games last season.

Though Hyde and Poyer have been paramount in the establishment of a winning culture and on-field product in Buffalo throughout the past seven years, a team ultimately reaches a point where it must move on. The Bills allowed both safeties to walk as free agents in the 2024 offseason; Poyer inked a deal with the division-rival Dolphins, while Hyde remains a free agent.

Buffalo won’t be able to simply ‘replace’ Hyde and Poyer, but it has brought in several safeties to compete for the two recently-opened starting jobs; the team re-signed Taylor Rapp, who spent the 2023 season with the Bills, before signing former Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Mike Edwards as a free agent. These two currently sit atop the depth chart, chased by the likes of Cam Lewis and Damar Hamlin.

Perhaps the player with the best opportunity to challenge either Rapp or Edwards for a starting role is Cole Bishop, the former Utah safety who the Bills selected with the 60th overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. Though nothing flashy, Bishop is simply a good football player, notching 197 tackles (21.5 of which were for a loss) and three interceptions throughout his three years in Salt Lake City.

He’s just a well-rounded player. He has solid coverage ability. He can play in the box and near the line of scrimmage. He has a penchant for laying the boomstick. He seems tailormade for a Buffalo defense that heavily relies on its safeties, that asks them to interchangeably provide a lid on the defense that prevents big plays while simultaneously allowing pass rushers to get home.

Longtime NFL analyst Greg Cosell echoed these thoughts during a recent appearance on “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar” podcast, praising not only Bishop as a player, but his fit in the Bills’ defensive scheme.

“I really like the player and I like his traits, but it’s a really good spot for him as well because one thing that they do a lot with their safeties is they’re interchangeable, meaning you have to be able to play both down in the box and you have to be able to play on the backend, and I think Bishop can do that,” Cosell said. “It’s very weird because he’s 6-foot-2, 206 pounds—the only negative he really has is, he has ridiculously short arms for that height, but I don’t think that really impacts the way in which he plays.

“Overall, he’s got really good size, he’s physical, he’s athletic, he played multiple spots, even played some post safety in Cover 1 and Cover 3, and I thought that he could do that without a problem. I thought that his transitions were smooth and fluid. I thought he could change direction. He could plant and drive downhill on routes in front of him. We know he can play in the box. I just think that he’s a really good player with a really good skill set, really good profile of traits—size, movement, versatility, competitiveness, savvy, intelligent. There wasn’t much for me, and I watched him last summer as well, from 2022, there wasn’t much to me that I didn’t like about Cole Bishop.”

Cosell mentions Bishop’s arm length, which was measured at 29 ¾” at the NFL Scouting Combine (in the third percentile amongst safeties). The defensive back tested well otherwise, earning a 9.88 out of 10 Relative Athletic Score. That’s good for 14th amongst over 1,000 qualifying safeties since 1987.

“He just struck me as a really complete safety,” Cosell said. “Big, physical, moved well, I thought he tackled well, too, and that’s often an overlooked trait. To me, he was kind of a complete safety. Maybe the reason he wasn’t viewed as a first-round pick—and I don’t know if any teams had him there, it’s possible they did—is he’s not a special athlete. He’s not sudden and twitchy, but he’s just a notch below all that.”

Filling the void left by Hyde and Poyer—who were as impactful off the field in Buffalo as they were on it—won’t be an easy task, but it’s one that must be accomplished anyway. Given his skillset, fit in the scheme, and the relative lack of competition ahead of him, Bishop may work to do so as early as his rookie season.

“They want their safeties to be interchangeable,” Cosell said. “Bishop, I think, can fit that role.”