The Chicago Bears haven’t made any huge moves in free agency, but they’ve still managed to secure help at key positions. One of them is safety. Cutting Eddie Jackson was a difficult move, but his contract and health setbacks made it inevitable. With help in the draft unlikely, GM Ryan Poles had to find a solution on the veteran market. After careful consideration, they pinpointed former All-Pro Kevin Byard as the right guy for the job. His versatility, range, ball skills, and leadership were all traits they knew could benefit their young secondary.
However, Chicago wasn’t the only team interested in his services. Others tried to make a play as well. After careful consideration, the safety chose the Bears. He met with the press for the first time on Thursday where the first question he was asked was why here. Byard stated the presence of Matt Eberflus, young secondary pieces like Jaylon Johnson, and pass rusher Montez Sweat made this defense seem appealing. He felt it was one he wanted to be part of, especially after the frustrating year he had in Philadelphia.
It’s hard to blame him.
“There’s a lot of things to be excited about. But like I said, this defense has a lot of great pieces here for sure, especially in the secondary. Obviously, just signed Jaylon to a big extension, I really think highly of him. He’s a really great player. And obviously, getting with Brisker, Jaquan, I think he’s a really good ascending player as well. But obviously, there’s a lot of pieces, from Kyler Gordon, obviously Tyrique Stevenson was a rookie last year. So I like what they’re doing in the secondary. And obviously, you got Montez Sweat, who obviously you brought in in a trade. … So like I said, a lot of great pieces and obviously two really good linebackers, so excited about this defense and just excited about the prospect of what we could in this team and the challenge of obviously trying to knock Detroit off the high horse.”
Kevin Byard might be an upgrade over Jackson.
Both were superb ballhawks in coverage, but there is one significant difference between the two. Byard is a far better run defender. He’s topped 100 tackles in three different seasons. The guy doesn’t make business decisions at any point. It is part of why teammates love him. His former coaches rave about his leadership, calling him a genuine quarterback of the defense. Having somebody like that on the back end can be invaluable. If Montez Sweat and the pass rush can rev it up this year, few are better than Byard at taking advantage.
The best part is he won’t have to do most of the work as in years past. The Bears have a young, ascending secondary led by Johnson, Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon, and Tyrique Stevenson. Kevin Byard can conduct them like a puppet master and put himself in the best possible positions to create turnovers. All he has to do is stay healthy. Don’t worry about his age. He’s still plenty athletic enough to cause problems in coverage. The Bears got themselves a good player, even if only for a short time.
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@PoochPest He already has a whole group of readers whose comments are more informative than the articles themselves.
@Arnie
Don’t you wish Erik Lambert could give equally perceptive analysis’ of the Bears situation and players and coaches? I wonder if the writers are waiting for the players to write their stories for them?
Money, it’s always money!
And look, he gave a pretty thoughtful analysis of Bear specifics, like coaches and players on the roster he’d like to play with, in spite of having 31 teams in a position to add him and already being an established All-Pro level player in the league. If only he had talked about Payton, Jordan and deep dish pizza, some fans in this city would have really been thrilled 🤣🤣🤣.
Philly has a loaded offense and tons of talent on defense. And yet they gave up a lot of points the latter part of the year. Why? Personality issues?
But the Bears, despite an offense that often struggled to score, had a defense that got stingier as the season progressed.
Money is one thing, but not the only thing for a guy looking for a new home, the Bears needed a free safety and seems to be a good fit for Byard. He recognized that and felt this was the place he wanted to be. Cool.