Is Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard worth his next contract?
By Will Lomas
A look at if Kevin Byard is worth the cost of his next contract for the Tennessee Titans.
Today, Travis Haney of The Athletic wrote a really nice article breaking down some of the Tennessee Titans key free agents and the dilemma the front office is going through as they try to figure out who to re-sign.
The first and most prominent name on the list was safety Kevin Byard, the Titans 3rd round draft pick from 2016. Obviously Byard is a great asset wherever he goes, but unfortunately for the Titans his four-year contract ends after this season.
What is even more unfortunate (for the Titans not Byard) is that in 2018 you could pay a free agent safety next to nothing. According to NFL.com’s free agency rankings these were the top-5 safeties on the market last year and the contract they received:
–Tyrann Mathieu: 1 year, $7 million
–Kenny Vaccaro: 1 year, $1.1 million
–Eric Reid: 1 year, $1.4 million
–Morgan Burnett: 3 years, $4.8 million per year
–Tre Boston: 1 year, $1.5 million per
Compare that to what the top-5 safeties made this past offseason:
–Earl Thomas: 4 years, $13.75 million per year
–Landon Collins: 6 years, $14 million per
-Tyrann Mathieu: 3 year, $14 million per
–Lamarcus Joyner: 4 year, $10.5 million per
–Adrian Amos: 4 year, $9.25 million per
I mean, the inflation on that is crazy even if the talent is better in that class. With Byard as the “next man up” to get paid, is he going to be able to live up to where these massive contracts are heading?