One advantage of having NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel as Patriots head coach is his prior connections to players who are available in free agency.
Last offseason, the Vrabel connection drew key contributors like Robert Spillane and Harold Landry III to New England. This spring, Vrabel is reuniting with All-Pro safety Kevin Byard III, one of the Patriots head coach's best players from their time together in Tennessee. Byard joins a slew of former Titans coaches and players as one of the Patriots biggest free-agent signings to upgrade their defense, which has a case to be one of the best secondaries in the NFL.
"To say [the coaching staff] is ecstatic is an understatement," EVP of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf said about adding Byard. "I know he's an older player, but I haven't seen any real drop-off from him. He proved that last year by obviously making All-Pro."
The NFL's reigning interceptions leader acknowledged his history with Vrabel was a factor in his decision to sign with the Patriots. However, Byard pointed to other factors on top of his relationship with Vrabel that drew him to New England, such as a winning culture, QB Drake Maye, and the Patriots talented secondary that includes Pro Bowl CB Christian Gonzalez and second-year S Craig Woodson, whom Byard can now mentor in the Patriots safety room.
"If I wasn't going back to Chicago, this was my top destination. Not necessarily just because of the relationship I have with Vrabes and a ton of other coaches and people in this building that I'm familiar with," Byard said. "I just think the culture of this team, this organization, is obviously a winning culture. The pieces that they have in place, whether it's the quarterback, the secondary, all those things. It makes it very attractive for any free agent to want to come here.
"Something I enjoyed about being in Chicago was Caleb Williams, who is a really great quarterback, and being a part of that. One of the hardest things to get right in the NFL [is the quarterback position]. New England has it right with Drake Maye," Byard continued. "To be able to play with some of the pieces this team has on defense, who I think played really well last year, especially in the Super Bowl."
At age 32, Byard continued to be one of the premier ball-hawks in the NFL last season, leading the league with seven interceptions while ranking 14th in Pro Football Focus grade among safeties (75.4). Along with his production on the field, Byard has also been remarkably healthy throughout his career. He has never missed a game in his 10-year career (164 regular-season games), including all 19 games for Chicago in 2025.
"I would definitely give credit to God for a lot of that, especially when it comes to health. But also a lot of preparation. It's offseason training, the way I train. I take a lot of pride in that because, like I said, just in my preparation, my routine. I try to be a great pro," Byard said.
Last season, the Bears primarily used Byard as a deep (free) safety. Byard played 74.4% of his snaps at free safety, with only a 17.2% snap rate in the box. More specifically, Byard's average distance from the ball at the snap was 11.1 yards, 14th among 88 qualified safeties. Chicago mostly had Byard playing deep-safety zones, with the veteran safety's most common coverage assignments being 205 coverage snaps as a post-safety (cover-1/cover-3) and 147 coverage snaps as a split-field safety defender (cover two). In both roles, Byard is tasked with covering the deep part of the field over the top of the defense.
For comparison, Byard was more versatile in his final full season with Vrabel in Tennessee. With the Titans, Byard's average depth from the line of scrimmage was 9.2 yards, balancing snaps at free safety (506), in the box (393), and slot corner (201). Byard's usage in Chicago was more on par with the player he's replacing in the Patriots secondary, Jaylinn Hawkins, whose average depth at the snap was 10.5 yards last season. Hawkins did play slightly more in the box (24.5%) and was used more as a blitzer, especially in the postseason (35 pass-rush snaps), than Byard did with the Bears (12 pass-rush snaps). But you can see the overlap in their deployment.
On film, Byard still has the range to play deep safety zones to go along with elite instincts when he's in ball-hawking positions with his eyes in the backfield. Although he'd primarily play as a deep safety, the Bears would occasionally rotate Byard into the short zone distribution, either as a curl/flat defender (52 snaps) or a cover-two hole player (16 snaps). Between those two coverage assignments, Byard had three of his league-high seven interceptions last season.
For example, the Bears featured cover-two schemes at the third-highest rate in the league, so they'd find different ways to fall into one of their base coverages. Above, Byard starts as the deep-middle safety, but Chicago inverts the coverage with the nickel corner and field corner (bottom) dropping into the two-high shell, making Byard the "hole" player in the middle of the zone. Vegas then runs the dagger concept with a seam route clearing out for the deep dig. Byard reads the route combination perfectly, jumping the dig route for an interception.
This time, Byard rotated into the short zone distribution as a "buzz" defender, with the defense going from a two-high safety shell pre-snap to a single-high safety post-snap coverage. The Vikings run a play-action staple of a vertical clearing out for a deep crossing route. When he falls into the curl/flat window, Byard keeps his eyes in the backfield on the quarterback and gets his hips around to jump the crossing route coming from the other side of the formation.
The veteran safety is also a high-level last line of defense when he's playing the deep-middle as a post safety. Chicago plays man coverage here with Byard as the single-high safety. The pass rush flushes Eagles QB Jalen Hurts out of the pocket and Hurts tries to throw an off-script throw to the tight end wheeling up the sideline. Byard matches Hurts the whole way with his movement, ranging over the top to make a diving interception on the overthrown pass.
"It's a combination of a couple of things," Byard said about having a knack for intercepting passes. "Some interceptions that I've had, especially last year, the two interceptions against Geno [Smith] and a couple other ones, that's almost all pure film study. Understanding the coverage, anticipating routes, and just making a play. But then some of it is skill set. The interceptions I had against Philly and New Orleans, those are just going to get the ball. It's definitely a combination of skill, preparation and anticipation. Some people can probably have five or six interceptions a year if they catch them all, you know what I mean? I try not to waste any opportunities."
As you can see from the clips, Byard is a high-level ball hawk, as his seven interceptions last season attest. His closing burst to make open-field tackles and stickiness in man coverage aren't at the same level as his zone-coverage skills, but the 32-year-old is still one of the best ball-hawking safeties in the NFL. Plus, he'll return to a defensive system that he's very familiar with to play alongside second-year S Craig Woodson. Having a steady free safety in Byard should allow Woodson to continue playing an aggressive do-it-all style, while the 10th-year pro said he's looking forward to helping Woodson grow as a player in any way possible.
"The guy was just a rookie last year. To be a rookie and basically play and start every single game, that's going to be big for his growth," Byard said of Woodson. "To play with him and try to give him as much as I can as far as knowledge of the game. Do what I can to try to help this team to be the best [it can be]."
The questions that remain for the Patriots safety group are preparing a long-term plan with Byard reportedly on a one-year deal and possibly adding a third safety into the mix. Last season, the Patriots only played 78 snaps, or 6.3%, with three safeties on the field. If they want to play more three-safety nickel or dime packages, New England could target a safety in the draft to add that to their repertoire, while allowing a rookie safety to develop behind Byard and Woodson as a potential future starter down the line. That said, the Patriots have the makings of an elite secondary with Byard now in the mix next season.
"Everybody talked about the relationship I have with Vrabes. Something else that really intrigued me, outside of obviously this team going to the Super Bowl last year, was the secondary, the pieces they have here," Byard said. "Christian Gonzalez is one of the best corners in the league already, Carlton Davis has been a really good player in this league for a long time, and Marcus Jones in the middle. Hopefully, I'm that final piece to make this a top secondary in the league."
With an All-Pro safety joining the team, the Patriots have one of the best secondaries in the NFL.
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
