After news broke of Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard signing an extension, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio criticized the move.
It seems you just can’t make everyone happy, and the same is the case with Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard’s contract extension.
At a time when we should all be thrilled for the former third-round pick for becoming the highest-paid safety in NFL history, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio found a negative in the move.
According to party-pooper Florio, Kevin Byard made the wrong decision in signing the five-year deal worth $70.5 million ($31 million in guarantees) because of the potential for a salary cap increase, new TV revenue and gambling money to earn players more cash down the road:
Another player commits for six years at a time when in the next year or two the salary cap could change significantly, TV revenues could go up dramatically, gambling money could mushroom.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 25, 2019
The problem with Florio’s analysis is in one word: could.
Sure, all of those things could happen, but what if they don’t? And furthermore, what if Byard suffers an injury that drastically changes his prospects over the next year?
And did he expect Byard and the Titans to agree to a two- to three-year pact?
That’s not something we ever see for a top player at his position who is in the final year of his rookie deal. Not to mention, Byard could always restructure his contract down the road and adjust to the new money coming into the NFL.
If that wasn’t enough, Florio also criticized the way the media handled the reporting of Byard’s contract. Despite his own website using the five-year, $70.5 million figure and calling Byard’s contract the richest for a safety in NFL history, Florio says we are all wrong:
"Reporters are rushing tonight to perpetuate the characterization of Titans safety Kevin Byard‘s deal as having a value of $14.1 million per year, making him the highest-paid safety in NFL history. However, the truth lies in the fact that contract extensions aren’t actually extensions but new contracts.Byard didn’t sign a five-year, $70.5 million extension; Byard signed a brand-new six-year deal with $70.5 million in new money and $2.025 million that he was due to make this season.In new-money terms, the deal is indeed worth $14.1 million annually. From signing, it’s worth $12.08 million per year."
Did Byard take Florio’s lunch or something? It seems he has some kind of axe to grind with the Titans safety, and we can’t figure out why.
The sixth year Florio talks about is actually the fourth year of Byard’s rookie contract, in which he is set to make $2.025 million in 2019. The extension, which Byard and the Titans officially agreed to on Wednesday night, is tacked on at the end of Byard’s rookie contract.
If we’re really mincing words here, Byard is technically signed for the next six seasons, with 2019 included. However, the Titans extended Byard to the largest annual salary for the next five years after. This is how contract extensions are always viewed.
Florio needs to take a step back and just be happy for Kevin Byard—as the rest of the world is—instead of sounding like an old man yelling at us from his porch.