ORCHARD PARK - With Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde gone, the Buffalo Bills had an undeniable need at safety, and that’s what led general manager Brandon Beane to select Utah’s Cole Bishop with the 60th overall pick of the draft.

“Shoot, I’m super excited,” Bishop said regarding getting the chance to replace one of those two players at some point. “I mean two great players I watched but I haven’t studied them or anything. Going to come in, first thing I got to do is learn the playbook and then just try to add as much value as I can, and just try to be the best I can be every day.”

Bishop was a ball hawk player for the Utes as he made 29 career starts and collected 197 tackles, 21.5 for lost yardage, 7.5 sacks, three interceptions and 12 pass breakups.

Dane Brugler, draft analyst for The Athletic, had Bishop as his fourth-rated safety and projected him in the late second round, right where he went.

“Overall, Bishop needs to put more impact plays on tape by setting traps for the quarterback in coverage, but he plays with top-down explosiveness and the football IQ to make plays at all three levels of the field,” Brugler wrote in his draft guide. “He has NFL starter-caliber talent and is ideally suited for a robber role.”

But in Buffalo, he won’t have to start right away. The Bills will count on veterans Taylor Rapp and Mike Edwards to replace the dynamic duo of Poyer and Hyde, but their depth is questionable with just Damar Hamlin and Kendall Williamson, so Bishop could force his way into the lineup in sub packages.

Rapp joined the Bills last season and played multiple roles but never really found his niche. Still, he decided to re-sign with the team as a free agent knowing he’d get a true chance to earn a starting job. The Bills then signed Edwards in free agency, a player who spent four years with the Buccaneers and then 2023 with the Chiefs.

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When Bishop gets to Buffalo, he’ll have a former teammate to help get him adjusted: Dalton Kincaid, the Bills’ first-round pick in 2023. When they were together at Utah, practice sessions were pretty competitive because one of Bishop’s strengths is the way he can take tight ends out of a game.

“I think my ability to cover tight ends,” Bishop said at the scouting combine when he was asked what he felt he does best. “I think I do that better than a lot of people. My versatility to play free and strong. And my intelligence, I feel like I’m a smart player.”

And part of his success is due to covering the talented Kincaid every day in practice.

“Yeah, like I said one of my better attributes is covering tight ends and Dalton, I can give him props for that,” he said. “Getting to cover him and Brant Kuithe every day, different players, but covering Dalton Kincaid every day in practice makes it a lot easier to cover other guys. Dalton’s still doing his thing at the next level. It means the world to me I got to cover a player like that.”

Friday night, Bishop said the Bills showed plenty of interest in him throughout the draft process.

“I first got talking with them the first time at the Senior Bowl and everything,” he said. “I got to meet with them a couple times at the combine, obviously, you meet with a bit of teams, and then had a couple Zooms throughout the process. I feel like we had a really good bond. Some teams, like you can kind of just tell there’s not a fit. Some teams don’t seem as interested. Some teams you’re not as interested in. Buffalo was always a team that I liked.

“And then it seemed like they were interested in me obviously. So being able to talk to them a good bit. Their defensive schemes, they let their safeties do a lot. I think my versatility is something that kind of separates me, so being able to go to a team that you’re able to be versatile is huge. So I think I’m going to be able to excel as best I can.”

And once that interest was apparent, Kincaid got into the mix.

“Yeah, me and him talked a good bit,” Bishop said. “Obviously talking, you know, him wishing me luck and everything. I think he texted me, but it’s kind of a little hectic, right after you get the call and try to figure out everything. I’m excited to talk to him in the next couple days. Just got to get out there to him again. It’s been a while.”

Cole Bishop scouting report

Bishop has on-field speed that stands out on tape; it gives him the ability to play everywhere, including blitzer, robber and post safety. He can match and carry speed receivers up the chute and to either boundary, and he has true sideline-to-sideline burst both as a safety and occasionally as an outside cornerback. On-field speed can be a blessing and a curse. He's eager to get to the receiver, but can be waylaid by backfield action and route concepts. Tackling can be an adventure. Bishop has the acceleration to get anywhere, but you don't always know what's going to happen from a tackling perspective when he gets there. —  Doug Farrar, USA TODAY’s Touchdown Wire

Cole Bishop height, weight

Bishop, who is from Peachtree City, Georgia, and went to Starr’s Mill High School, is 6 feet 2 and 207 pounds.

Cole Bishop college stats

Cole Bishop got a very nice start with the Utes, amassing 54 tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks to go with five pass breakups as a true freshman in 2021. Bishop was named Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention in both 2021 and 2022, but 2023 was when Bishop's coverage abilities really came around.

After allowing opponent passer ratings of 107.4 and 104.2 in his first two seasons, Bishop dropped that down to 67.8 in 2023, allowing 14 catches on 26 targets for 170 yards, 58 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and one pass breakup. He also had three sacks, 12 total pressures, 47 solo tackles, 22 stops, and nine missed tackles. — Doug Farrar, USA TODAY’s Touchdown Wire

Cole Bishop highlights

Bishop was a 2023 Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist, and participated in the 2024 Reese's Senior Bowl. — Doug Farrar, USA TODAY’s Touchdown Wire

Cole Bishop NFL combine results

Bishop ran a 4.45 40 with a 1.52 10-yard split. He recorded a 39-inch vertical and a 10-foot, 4-inch broad jump.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out every other Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills take Utah's Cole Bishop in Round 2: NFL draft profile