NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Yeah, it’s a business and Kevin Byard is facing up to that.
But Byard has the right to be upset that the Titans want him to take a pay cut, something first reported by Mike Lombardi. Adam Schefter said it's left the sides at an impasse.
The Titans are looking at cap numbers they don’t like and guess who created those?
Byard didn't ask the Titans to restructure his deal in Sept. of 2020 and again in March of 2022.
They wanted or needed that.
And it drove up his cap numbers, 2023's by $3.7 million plus to nearly $19.2 million. He didn’t do them some big favor by taking more money sooner. He's not responsible for helping them not mismanaged the cap.
And while Jon Robinson was pushing money around to make room to give away picks and big dollars for a massive failure like Julio Jones – the sort of move that helped him get fired – he was helping set up things like the cap cost of the Titans' top pro who’s still playing elite-level football heading into Year Eight.
Separate from that, Byard is due $13.6 million in base salary this year. His $14.1 million due in cash this year is the fifth-highest number for an NFL safety this season.
Consider the Titans' failures at corner: Kristian Fulton has soft tissue injuries, first-rounder Caleb Farley was a special teamer before a back injury ended his second season, Roger McCreary's technique was inconsistent as a rookie and the Titans fired Anthony Midget as the group's coach. Byard helped cover for a revolving door of bit players while the guy who was supposed to start next to him, Amani Hooker, was available for all of nine games.
Byard's contract is not outrageous for a two-time All-Pro and even a rebuilding team needs some tentpoles for production and leadership. He's a face of the franchise who's time has not come.
Ran Carthon better be figuring out a way to smooth things over or trade Byard for some legit compensation.
They can’t cut him in the name of saving $6 million given the loss of production and leadership while eating $13.6 M in dead money.
That would be horrible business.
Carthon and Mike Vrabel should know they’ve got to massage things here. They can be businessmen without coming across as harsh and heartless. Letting Byard’s side control the narrative is not smart and why the franchise consistently fails to do better PR in such situations remains a mystery.
What goes down next is where the team’s roster issues shift from Robinson's past mistakes to Carthon and Vrabel's current ones.
While the #Titans look to reduce Kevin Byard's pay, they're a year removed from giving Amani Hooker three years, $30 M with $17.2 M guaranteed.
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) March 18, 2023
He missed eight games last year with concussion/ shoulder/ knee.
$6.19 M base in 2023, $8.9 M cap, can't get out until 2024.
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