The Philadelphia Eagles are 6-1. They’re coming off a 14-point win over the Miami Dolphins, who entered Week 7 as a one-loss team with Super Bowl aspirations. They’ve got a lineup littered with veteran All-Pros and recent first round picks waiting to join them amongst the NFL’s recognized elite.
But the Eagles aren’t satisfied with that. So on Monday, hours removed from shutting down the Dolphins, they boosted the weakest link of the league’s 11th-ranked defense. Welcome to Pennsylvania, two-time All-Pro safety and eight-year NFL veteran Kevin Byard.
It’s the latest in a string of trades that always seems to work out in general manager Howie Roseman’s favor. Byard was left to languish on a Tennessee Titans team with a narrow path to contention in 2023. Rather than force a veteran — and his $19 million 2024 cap hit — through a rebuild in Nashville, the Titans sent one of their most recognizable players to greener pastures in the NFC.
The cost was not significant.
The Tennessee Titans are trading All-Pro defensive back Kevin Byard to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles will be sending the Titans a 2024 5th and 6th rounder and safety Terrell Edmunds, per multiple league sources.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) October 23, 2023
All it took to pry an expensive, but reliable veteran from Tennessee was an inexpensive and unreliable veteran (Terrell Edmunds, who’d made just two starts after signing with Philly this offseason) and a pair of Day 3 draft picks. It’s a move that will immediately boost a secondary whose 2023 production hadn’t matched its 2022 standard.
The Eagles’ passer rating allowed last season was 81.6, third-best in the NFL en route to a conference title. This fall, that number has climbed to 93.9 — 10th-worst. Part of the problem has been a decline from veteran cornerbacks Darius Slay and James Bradberry, who have merely been “good” after exceptional 2022 seasons.
But a larger chunk of that problem has been instability at safety. CJ Gardner-Johnson left in free agency and injuries have meant no player has started more than five games at the position so far this season. Reed Blankenship’s growth has been promising in stretches, but Edmunds and Justin Evans had their share of issues in coverage next to him.
Now Blankenship pairs with Byard, a player who has proven himself a capable eraser of short and long routes thanks to dynamic closing speed and impressive awareness of how plays will unfold. Make no mistake; this is an upgrade for the Eagles and a patch over one of their rare weak spots. So did they win this trade?
Let’s take a look at the grades.
Philadelphia Eagles: A-
Eagles send: S Terrell Edmunds, 2024 fifth-round pick, 2024 sixth-round pick
Eagles receive: S Kevin Byard
Byard can’t fix Jalen Hurts’ newfound turnover issues, but he does make them more manageable. He’ll join a unit that just held Miami’s potent offense to 17 points but who, as mentioned above, has struggled to stop opposing quarterbacks despite a top-four 26.9 percent pressure rate from its pass rush.
The 30-year-old may no longer be All-Pro material. Even in a diminished form he’ll be an upgrade over Edmunds, who came to Philadelphia as a potential buy-low bargain but leaves as just sort of another guy in the secondary. He’s proven he can thrive as both a deep ball center fielder (2019, when he allowed a 67.8 passer rating in coverage with an average target coming 12 yards downfield) or closer to the line of scrimmage (2021, when he allowed a 77.9 rating with his average pass traveling fewer than eight yards downfield).
That makes him a steady presence that should help free fellow Middle Tennessee State alum Blankenship up to help more in the box. He’ll also provide rookie Sydney Brown with capable veteran mentorship in the secondary.
The price was right as well. Roseman gave up a player with no future on the team and a couple Day 3 picks who might prove useful, but not in 2023. Byard will carry a hefty cap hit to 2024, per Spotrac, but the team can move on from him without any of it staying on the coffers next spring. That’s important, as the Eagles only have an estimated $33 million in effective salary cap space next offseason and have extension decisions coming for DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson and Josh Sweat.
The result is a low-risk, high-reward acquisition that shores up the team’s biggest defensive need. Byard is getting old, but he remains a veteran presence capable of All-Pro moments in a secondary filled with them. It’s tough to see that as anything other than a win for Philadelphia.
Tennessee Titans: B
Eagles send: S Kevin Byard
Eagles receive: S Terrell Edmunds, 2024 fifth-round pick, 2024 sixth-round pick
The Titans needed to do this. 2023 won’t be a championship season, especially with Ryan Tannehill once again battling an ankle injury. Tennessee is stuck in limbo and selling off pieces, even one as beloved as Byard, was necessary.
General manager Ran Carthon opted to sell his star safety a year early rather than risking diminishing returns by selling him a year late. Byard is 30 years old and his play has declined in each of the seasons since his 2021 All-Pro campaign. While he’s proven capable of bouncing back from underwhelming performances in the past — he wasn’t particularly great in 2020 — expecting an instant turnaround is a risky bet for a guy who just entered his fourth decade on this planet.
The return isn’t amazing, but it was never going to be for a player whose preseason trade request fizzled out and ended in a salary reduction last summer. Trading him saves more than $6 million from the Titans’ salary cap, per Over The Cap, but he’ll still carry a sizeable cap hit into 2024 in a league where veteran safeties aren’t particularly well paid.
Philly can release him in 2024 rather than fulfill his $14 million in owed money next spring without eating any dead cap space, or Roseman can perform some cap gymnastics to make that more manageable should hedecide to keep him. Either way, that big number and possibility this is a half-season rental played a role in this trade package as well.
Edmunds is a live body who can bring replacement level production and maybe even keep Tennessee in the postseason periphery into December. But it’s more likely this team takes its lumps and regroups for 2024 where it will have nearly $100 million in estimated salary cap space. Byard didn’t have a future here, but the two lottery ticket draft picks acquired for him might.
