Why safety Kevin Byard wanted to join the Chicago Bears

Kevin Byard has played a lot of football throughout his eight years in the NFL. The 30-year-old veteran safety knows a good defense when he sees one.

And what the Chicago Bears are building on the defense is one of several reasons why Byard ultimately joined the team after testing free agency for the first time in his NFL career.

“For the Bears specifically, this defense, I really like what Coach Matt (Eberflus) is building here just as a team,” Byard said at Halas Hall on Thursday. “There’s a lot of things to be excited about. But like I said, this defense has a lot of great pieces here for sure, especially in the secondary. Obviously, just signed Jaylon (Johnson) to a big extension, I really think highly of him. He’s a really great player. And obviously, getting with Brisker, Jaquan, I think he’s a really good ascending player as well.

But obviously, there’s a lot of pieces, from Kyler Gordon, obviously Tyrique Stevenson was a rookie last year. So I like what they’re doing in the secondary. And obviously, you got Montez Sweat, who obviously you brought in in a trade. … So like I said, a lot of great pieces and obviously two really good linebackers, so excited about this defense and just excited about the prospect of what we could in this team and the challenge of obviously trying to knock Detroit off the high horse.”

The players that Byard mentioned, specifically the secondary, started to pique his interest about halfway through last season. Byard shared that he obviously watches a lot of film and noticed how well the unit was playing. The Bears finished the 2023 season tied for first in interceptions with 28.

As the veteran of this Bears secondary, Byard understands the production the team achieved last year has nothing to do with this upcoming season. Byard mentioned the team will have to put the work in to bond with each other and “reset everything and go it” in 2024.

One thing that will have to be sorted out before that can happen is the quarterback situation and who will end up playing under center next season. Despite the uncertainty, Byard said it wasn’t a factor when he was having his discussions with the Bears.

“My responsibility is to be the best safety I possibly can for this organization,” Byard said. “That’s what I do, and that’s what I’m going to do. I don’t make those decisions. Obviously, they don’t pay me enough, and I’m not high enough in the organization to even be part of those discussions. Those types of things don’t matter in my opinion. I’ve been in this league long enough to know if you got a good guy behind center, we can do some great things. No matter what decisions we make as an organization, I think it will be the right one. “

For a veteran who has played in 130 games throughout his eight-year career and has never missed a practice due to injury, this next step in his journey will be new. For the first time since he was drafted, Byard will go through OTAs and training camp somewhere that isn’t with the Titans’ organizations.

Byard will have some familiarity, though, reuniting with fomer Titans teammates in Khari Blasingame, Nate Davis and DeMarcus Walker. And even Brisker reminds Byard of his former teammate Kenny Vaccaro since both like to talk and hit.

So even though this will be Byard’s third team in the last two seasons, he can still find new and exciting opportunities at this point in his career.

“Like I said, when I got the call from my agent about the Bears and things like that, it was exciting for me it was an exciting prospect, obviously already knowing the team and kind of going down the roster and the pieces that we have, I’m always up for a really good challenge,” Byard said. “I think with this division and the team that they have, the you guys and the energy around here, I think it’s going to be an exciting time this year. I’m excited to be a part of it.”