Bears Predicted to Regret Signing Former All-Pro for $15 Million..

The Chicago Bears are among the clubs who have been most active in the offseason and have one of the most altered rosters as a result, albeit not all of their moves will go as planned.

On Sunday, May 26, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox made the prediction that Chicago will regret adding safety Kevin Byard to the team in an attempt to strengthen the secondary.

The Bears should be a really entertaining team to watch this season if Chicago’s defense, which made huge progress toward the end of 2023, can perform at a high level. They might even wind up making it to the postseason. But Chicago is still probably a year or two away from being a serious contender for the championship.

Thus, it just didn’t make sense to sign safety Kevin Byard to a two-year, $15 million contract.

quite sensible. August 31st marks Byard’s 31st birthday. He is not the same player he once was and would be considerably better used as a depth player on a team that is prepared to compete from the start.

A younger safety like Kamren Curl or Xavier McKinney would have been a more sensible target for the rebuilding Bears. Instead, they struck a far from cheap deal to release expensive veteran Eddie Jackson and bring in another older safety.

Consequently, it didn’t make much sense to sign safety Kevin Byard to a two-year, $15 million contract. Byard, who turns 31 in August, is no longer the great performer he once was and would be far more useful as a depth player on a team that is currently competitive.

A younger safety like Kamren Curl or Xavier McKinney would have been a more sensible target for the rebuilding Bears. Instead, they struck a far from cheap deal to release expensive veteran Eddie Jackson and bring in another older safety.

It’s easy and evident to argue—and frequently unjust—that the Bears ought to have invested more money in yet another position in order to get a younger player. Knox makes a stronger case for the Bears to choose a different safety than Byard than comparable arguments made against other clubs, though, given Chicago’s wage constraint circumstances.

As of Sunday, Chicago had more than $22.6 million in salary cap space. McKinney, for example, inked a $67 million, four-year contract to play for the Green Bay Packers.

Knox’s argument centers on the idea that paying a player like McKinney more before the Bears are genuinely prepared to compete for a Super Bowl may seem contradictory. However, doing so would have established talent and continuity throughout the secondary for the upcoming campaigns in 2025 and 2026.

As things stand, though, Byard, who spent his career with the Tennessee Titans and was selected to two All-Pro teams in 2017 and 2021, will start at safety for the Bears in 2024. Before the trade deadline in the previous season, Tennessee traded Byard to the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he finished the last ten games of the regular season.

In response to Knox’s concern on Byard’s downturn in 2023, Pro Football Reference reports that the safety let the opposition’s quarterbacks complete 74.6% of the 63 passes that were thrown to him, for a combined passer rating of 102.1.

Byard may certainly make a comeback in 2024, especially with the Bears defense looking like one of the best in the NFL at the end of the previous campaign. But even if he doesn’t regain All-Pro form, the safety’s leadership is already having a positive impact on a young Chicago locker room.

Caleb Williams, the first overall pick, received a message from the safety after the defense roughed up the new quarterback during 11-on-11 drills on May 23.

“Our day went well. I won’t sit here and tell you a falsehood about that. To be honest though, it is to be anticipated. This defense, which is expected to rank in the top 15 or 10, is facing a rookie quarterback who is less experienced and needs some time to adjust.  learning things,” Byard remarked, as reported by ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. At the conclusion of practice, I told him to “keep it going.” We will continue to improve you. Not that he didn’t have a good day; rather, it’s days like these that will help you get better.

With Byard’s leadership, performance, and experience, Chicago’s defense ought to improve during the course of the upcoming campaign. Upon the end of the season, the Bears can assess their current status as a club and in the safety position and decide whether to add or modify in 2025.