Philadelphia Eagles to Cut Safety Kevin Byard

Highlights

• Per reports, the Philadelphia Eagles are releasing safety Kevin Byard.
• Byard, a two-time first-team All-Pro, should have plenty of suitors in free agency despite diminished production in 2023.
• The Eagles need to do a lot of work rebuilding their porous pass defense, though they have brought in Vic Fangio as DC to aid the unit.

Last year at this time, the Philadelphia Eagles were coming off a dream season that fell just a few inches short of the finish line. After losing 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57, the team entered last offseason with the intention of beefing up the margins of their roster for another deep postseason run.

After failing to adequately replace safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson (who left for the Detroit Lions), the team traded for Tennessee Titans star safety Kevin Byard, surrendering fifth and sixth-round picks along with free agent pickup Terrell Edmunds in the middle of the 2023 regular season.

Unfortunately, that move didn’t do much to help a collapsing unit, as the Eagles finished 26th in total defense and 30th in scoring defense before getting blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.

As such, the Eagles enter this offseason with a need to rebuild their defense entirely, and they’ve begun that quest in earnest by releasing Byard, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The team will create more than $13 million in cap space with the move, which will bring them close to $40 million in wiggle room, per Spotrac.

With new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in place, can Philly put together an elite defensive unit on the fly this summer?

Byard should appeal to contenders in free agency

The Eagles need to invest heavily in their secondary after a porous performance by the pass defense

Byard has long been one of the game’s preeminent safeties, playing both free safety and box safety roles with the Titans and Eagles.

In 2017, he led the league with eight interceptions and paced all safeties with 16 pass deflections. In 2021, he returned to his elite coverage form, allowing a completion rate of just over 50%. In both seasons, he was selected to the Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro rosters.

2023 was more of a struggle for the 30-year-old, as he had difficulty with the midseason transition to Philadelphia, allowing a 103.3 passer rating when targeted during his time with the Eagles. Still, he posted a career high in tackles, showing off the range and instincts that have made him a coverage maven for so long.

Byard has played in and started in all but one game since 2017, playing no less than 96% of his team’s defensive snaps in any given season. His schematic versatility and iron man mentality will ensure he finds a home for 2024, even if his age and 2023 performance preclude him from finding another long-term deal.

Byard’s release leaves the Eagles with two safeties under contract: Reed Blankenship and Sydney Brown. After Philadelphia’s pass defense ranked 30th in 2023 (252.7 yards per game allowed, compared to a league-leading 179.8 in 2022), Vic Fangio was brought in as the new defensive coordinator. Fangio’s Cover-2 defense requires two deep safeties, which should put the position at the top of Philly’s wish list this offseason.

Antoine Winfield Jr. and Kyle Dugger are projected to be two of the better free agent safeties on the market this year, though the Eagles can’t dedicate all of their remaining cap space just to one position. The team has a massive need at linebacker (especially if Haason Reddick is traded), and they may need to bring in reinforcements for the offensive line should Jason Kelce and/or Lane Johnson retire.

Philadelphia has a lot of work to do to get their defense back to being Super Bowl caliber, though with a star-studded defensive line and an elite rotation of cornerbacks, at least they won’t be building from scratch.

Source: Adam Schefter

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise. All salary info via Spotrac.