A good artist is someone who can grab hold of the matter in our dreams and turn it into reality. The football general manager equivalent of that is someone who can take trades that Tino from Fishtown proposes on WIP—you know the ones that get him laughed off the air because they’re completely ridiculous and not based in reality—and actually bring them to fruition.
This is why, on Monday, the football world again professed our collective love for Eagles GM Howie Roseman, who stole a two-time All-Pro safety, Kevin Byard, from the Titans. The cost? A fifth- and sixth-round pick in the 2024 draft, and safety Terrell Edmunds. While Byard is 30 and high-mileage players decline in value like used pontoons after they reach their third decade, he is still an elite pass defender who doesn’t miss tackles and is just as comfortable operating at the line of scrimmage. Like Malcolm Jenkins during Philadelphia’s 2017 championship season, Byard can make the defense more amoebic without sacrificing run support.
The pros of this trade are obvious. An injury-battered Eagles secondary gets a player who, a few years ago, may have been considered one of the best defensive players in the sport. It feels inevitable that Byard will make some kind of play against Travis Kelce in a Super Bowl rematch, because this is the kind of move that general managers interested in making it to Las Vegas make. Philadelphia’s matchup against the 49ers in Week 13 will be instructive as to how far Byard can elevate a defense against teams with multiple, big-bodied threats and a downhill running game.
