How Nyheim Hines adapted to Buffalo – on and off the field

The then-Indianapolis Colts running back got a call from Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane at 4 p.m. Nov. 1 after acquiring Hines in a trade for running back Zack Moss and a sixth-round pick.

Can you be on a 7:10 p.m. flight? Beane asked Hines.

“My iPad, sweatpants, a couple backpacks and hoodies,” Hines said of what he had time to pack. “Oh, and my underwear and that’s about it.”

Whenever a player switches teams in the middle of an NFL season, there’s a hope — or expectation — that they’ll immediately contribute to their new city. Learning a new playbook, however, is just one of the challenges new players face. Hines landed in Buffalo at 12 p.m. on November 2 and, in his own words, “after that, it all kind of hit the fan.”

“To acclimatize to the field, it takes a team – or a village,” Hines said. “Off the field, it is also the case. I needed to find a place to live. I needed the do’s and don’ts of this area. It was hard, but I think it would have been much, much harder – I don’t think I could have overcome it – if I hadn’t had everyone here to help me.

This list begins with Mark Carrier, the Bills director of player engagement, and Kelsey Harkins, the player services coordinator. Should the organization hand out an “unsung hero” award, it could well go to Harkins, who nearly every player has mentioned for helping with virtually every need they have. Carrier, meanwhile, joined the Bills in March 2021 after 10 seasons with the Carolina Panthers organization. A former third-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he spent 12 years in the NFL as a wide receiver, making the Pro Bowl in 1989 with the Bucs after finishing with 86 catches for 1,422 yards and nine touchdowns.

“I’m in 12th year of player development, so I know what to expect and what the guys are looking for once they arrive,” Carrier said. “As a former player, I’m very into the culture. I try to give them a good idea of ​​what to expect in this department.

Carrier’s time with the Panthers overlapped with that of Beane and Bills coach Sean McDermott, so he’s well aware of what’s expected of new players at Buffalo.

“I know what Sean stands for. I know what Brandon stands for,” Carrier said. “I just educate the players, ‘hey that’s what they expect. That’s how Coach McDermott is. Don’t sugarcoat it. Just tell you how it is to help you to make the transition much better.

One of the first things Carrier and Harkins do when a new player arrives is give them a “welcome package” that lists local schools, churches, and apartment complexes.

“We try to give them a complete overview of what to expect in Buffalo,” he said. “Right away, we tell them to start looking for a place. Do they want to be in a hotel? A house? A flat?”

Carrier said about 80% of Bills’ roster players live within 10 miles of Highmark Stadium.

“A few players live in downtown Buffalo. So we’re trying to get a sense of them, you want the downtown life? he said. They must “understand, when it’s cold here, you have to be used to driving in the snow. That’s what to expect. We try to give them a full overview of what the expectations are once they get here.

Once the player makes that housing decision, Carrier and his staff point them in the right direction. Hines spent his first few weeks in a hotel after arriving in Buffalo before growing tired of it and renting an Airbnb. He finally moved into a downtown apartment about three weeks ago.

“The football part is my job. I mean, I love football. That’s what I’m going to do,” he said. my everyday life. I lived out of a suitcase for a while, sometimes I couldn’t find my clothes, I couldn’t find certain things I needed. It’s hard. Being traded, I was excited about it, but I had no idea how difficult the real life transition would be.

For Hines, getting in and out of Indianapolis was a little easier because he is unmarried and has no children. Even still, he must decide what to do with the house he bought in Indianapolis in July.

“I’m trying to get my life back together,” he said. “I had a moving crew probably two or three weeks ago, I brought my Sleep Number bed and things like that from Indy to here. Things settle down, but the first two or three weeks were a first shock, at least for me. It was my first time moving. I was there for four or five years, so I just accumulated stuff. I settled there, and overnight, you just pick up and go and you have three hours to pack. … I had a lot of help making this transition.

For new players who have families, life decisions only get bigger.

“Do you have children? How old? Are we considering child care or schooling for the children? Is your wife coming or not? Carrier said. “I try to sit down with them, get personal information from them, just to get an idea of ​​who they are, tell them what we do in our department. Let them know we are here as a resource. I try to know a little more about their personal life. Are you married? Are you single? What is your school status? Is there anything that worries you once you get here? Is there anything worrying you away from here now that you’re here? Is your wife away? How can we help him while he is away? I try to get as much information as possible about them.

Hines made his Bills debut just five days after being traded, playing four snaps against the New York Jets. He has since become the team’s primary kick and punt returner, although his role on offense continues to be minimal. He had 23 snaps against the Patriots in Week 13, but in six games he rushed five times for minus-5 yards and caught three passes for 34 yards.

“The production on the pitch, the role, obviously didn’t play as much as I wanted it to,” he said. “You know, it’s good. This is how it works. You have to learn the ropes, you have to understand the culture, buy into the culture – understand the norm. There are some things the running backs do here that I might not have done elsewhere. I must learn to conform to this standard. … That’s what it’s all about, embracing the culture. I didn’t come here and I have to earn my stripes. That’s what I try to do.

As much as it’s an adjustment for a player, it’s also one for the team.

“I think there’s a balance between not losing your identity and finding ways to integrate the tools you have,” offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey said. “I think you see that with Nyheim Hines and what we’ve progressed and how we’re trying to keep integrating him, the more comfortable he feels in the system. This is the most important thing. That’s the hardest thing for these guys coming in the middle of the year, just learning the system and knowing where to go and knowing how to do it so they can play fast and not think and just react to what ‘they see instead of thinking about what they’re supposed to do. The sooner you can bring the guys up to speed on this, the better off you will be. It’s a constant challenge, because obviously it’s expensive. That’s a lot of information for these guys sometimes. It’s a challenge for everyone, but I think that’s where having guys who are dedicated to their craft and willing to put in the extra time really helps that.

Hines credited running backs coach Kelly Skipper and fourth-year veteran Devin Singletary with helping him with that. He feels more comfortable – on and off the pitch.

“I’m finally going to work without GPS,” he said with a smile. “I hear the coins and one in 20 coins I have to ask what to do, as opposed to all the coins who don’t know. It’s an adjustment. At least for me, when I got here I took a few steps back, but once you learn it, you take a few steps forward. It’s just life. Often, you have to go backwards before you can move forward. … I think that makes me a better player and a better person.

Hines joked that he had finally started playing on his Xbox in the past two weeks, finally to a point with his knowledge of his offense that he didn’t have to study from morning till night. He’s even started making a list of his favorite restaurants – Giancarlo’s, Mulberry, Chophouse and Gabriel’s Gate have all made the list so far.

“It’s the part of life outside of this that people don’t realize. I’m in Buffalo and people ask about the field and things like that, but it’s like, ‘hey, my life just changed overnight,’” he said. “I still study a lot, but apart from that I try to learn the region. I’ve done a lot of community service (in Indianapolis) so I’m trying to start here too. Honestly, I’ve gotten information from a lot of people, but sometimes the best thing in life is knowing you don’t know and asking for help. I asked for a lot of help and I thank the Lord, I received a lot of help.

Providing this assistance proved to be a fulfilling life after football for Carrier.

“As a football player, once you are on the football pitch, you are playing football,” he said. “You can learn new terminology, you can learn a new offense, like in the case of Nyheim, but that’s just football. The hardest part is coming here trying to figure it all out. Trying to figure out where I’m going be, where I’m going to stay, that’s the hard stuff. People think you’re coming to play football and going home, but they don’t realize you’re uprooting yourself. That’s a lot – more than what people think. people expect – and we try to help them make the best decisions possible.