[Rapoport] Source: The #Bears are signing All-Pro S Kevin Byard to a 2-year deal worth $15M base.

32 comments

1. Cool! Not a bad deal at all!

2. Poles cooking

3. Guarantees hopefully just essentially a one year deal

   One good thing on him is he is remarkably healthy.

4. Happy we got a legitimate guy next to Brisker

5. Would’ve preferred a younger player like Stone/McKinney to mesh with the ages of our other players, but I guess the veteran experience was more of a desire.

   Hopefully Byard can get back to 3/4 of his all pro level play and our secondary is top 5 in the league.

6. cook king

7. Good veteran safety to play alongside Brisker

8. I know he’s not the player he used to be, but seems like a reasonable deal and love the idea of adding a proven vet to this younger core. Regardless, can’t be worse then Ejax was last year … right?

9. this is pretty gucci. secondary needed a veteran, I reckon he’s got another good season or two in him. If Poles cooks some more on DLine and Flus isn’t as much of a brain dead fuckin idiot as I think he is the Bears D should hold up pretty well while Caleb adjusts to the NFL

10. LFG

11. That’s it?? Huge W

12. I was hoping for one of the younger guys, but I imagine theyd cost a lot more than 7.5m. Byard at this point I think is a minor upgrade over Jackson but at half the cost.

    Also, Byard was playing in a Matt Patricia defense last year so I imagine he’ll be in a better spot this year. Overall I like the signing.

13. Would have preferred a younger safety

14. next vet is hunter

15. Feels like a 1:1 replacement for Eddie Jackson. Older former all-pro on the decline. At least he’s been healthier than Jackson

16. Solid vet experience alongside our young squad. Nice deal!

17. if he’s got enough left to be even above average, our secondary is absolutely sick

18. I’m alright with this, veteran safety to anchor our young secondary and he’s a LOT cheaper than Ejax would’ve been this year. At worst it’s a lateral move in terms of play.

19. Cheaper and better than Ejax. Also, I’d love to draft an athletic FS in the middle rounds and have them develop behind Byard.

20. Looked better than EJax last year. He didn’t look as good as he once did. I suspect at least some of it is from the awful CBs from the Eagles and dysfunctional coaching situation there. Either way at worst a lateral move

21. He’s a decent grab and my guess is the short term developmental guy for the safety we are likely to draft. Cause at face value he’s aging and had an off year, like a really off one where Eagles fans hated how he didn’t/couldn’t tackle(something a lot of people here got irritated by Jackson).

22. Nice signing!

23. It’s a good deal for the type of player he is.

24. Poles historically has not spent big in FA. I love this signing. Low risk and fills a big need.

    Poles wants draft flexibility.

25. Fuck yeah!

26. This defense is looking better by the day. Literally.

27. Smart business decision here.

28. Will be nice to not see Eddie Jackson on vacation in the backfield every Sunday.

29. Byard had 122 tackles last year. Eddie Jackson has never had more than 82.

30. Between this move and Bates. I have a feeling the Bears are making a huge splash tomorrow. These are low cost moves that fill obvious holes.

31. How did he get signed before the tampering period began?

32. Well it was fun having him as a superstar in madden while it lasted. EA about to take that away.