Why The Eagles Need To Cut This Star Player
Flashback to the start of the 2023 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles were winning games and looked like they could have easily been a Super Bowl favorite once again. They had just one weakness at the time, which was the secondary. One of the issues with the secondary was that players were in and out of the lineup due to injuries. In response, General Manager Howie Roseman brought in Pro Bowl safety Kevin Byard from the Tennessee Titans. Byard seemed like the perfect fit to stabilize the unit.
Unfortunately, since the Eagles brought him in, the defense struggled even more. The team started giving up more points and then went on a rough losing streak to end the season.
It's Time For The Eagles To Cut Kevin Byard.
Byard is not a bad player but underperformed to expectations. He is north of 30 years old, which is when players of his position are past their prime. Additionally, he may not have been a fit for Sean Desai/Matt Patricia's defensive system. Both of those coordinators are out, so incoming coordinator Vic Fangio would still likely want a fresh start building the roster.
Byard played worse with Philly last year than he did in Tennessee. The two-time Pro Bowler saw his completion rate allowed go from 72.7 percent in six games with the Titans up to 75.6 percent in 10 regular season games for the Eagles. Meanwhile, his passer rating allowed went from 99.8 to 103.3 with Philadelphia. In total, Byard gave up the highest completion percentage of passes thrown his way in his career (74.6%). His total passer rating allowed was 102.1, the second highest of his career.
Cutting Byard would save the Eagles a considerable amount of money. He is due to make $14.4 million in 2024, which is a lot for what he can provide the team. The move would open up a total of $13.3 million in cap space, and while Byard is still a starting-caliber player, that money could be invested much more effectively elsewhere.
It will not be surprising if the Eagles cut him. Hopefully the new defensive coordinator can figure something out as the defense got considerably worse as 2023 went on. Look for this to be one of the priorities this offseason.
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