Titans Pro Bowl safety Kevin Byard agrees to restructured contract for 2023 NFL season, per report

Kevin Byard has agreed to a pay cut. The Titans were able to come to terms with their Pro Bowl safety on a restructured contract for the 2023 season, according to NFL Media. Byard’s new base salary is now set at $11 million after previously sitting at $13.6 million. However, Byard’s restructuring does include incentives that could get him back to the near $14 million he was originally owed. 

This deal comes after Byard and the Titans seemed to butt heads over the course of the offseason regarding this issue. New general manager Ran Carthon approached Byard to take a pay cut at the beginning of the offseason and the two sides were reportedly at a crossroads. Given this restructuring, it does seem like things have been smoothed over. Byard himself said that he and the Titans are in a “good place” last month when talking about the situation. 

“It’s very easy to get your emotions involved,” Byard told the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast. “When my agent told me — obviously he had a conversation with the team and kind of reported back to me about everything — it was very easy to be emotional because I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt a way about it. ‘What? They asked for what?’ But at the same time, you can’t be emotional in business. If you make an emotional decision within y’all business, more than likely it’s going to be bad business. So I had to find a way to compartmentalize everything and just kinda keep my emotions out of it when I’m making these different decisions. 

“Yeah, man. It happened. And I think we’re in a good place right now.”

Byard signed a five-year, $70.5 million deal with the Titans back in 2019 that made him the highest-paid safety in NFL history. The 29-year-old has spent his entire career in Tennessee after the club selected him in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Middle Tennessee. Over his tenure, Byard has been named first-team All-Pro twice and received two Pro Bowl nods. 

Last season, the safety tallied 108 tackles, broke up six passes and recorded four interceptions.