The New England Patriots found a short-term but major upgrade for their secondary Wednesday — 3-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the Patriots are signing Byard to a 1-year, $9 million contract. The safety will head to New England after leading the league with seven interceptions during his third first-team All-Pro campaign last year.
Byard also registered 93 combined tackles, including four tackles for loss and eight pass defenses during 2025.
With the Patriots, Byard will reunite with head coach Mike Vrabel. The safety played for Vrabel while he served as head coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018-22. During the 2021 season, Byard earned his second first-team All-Pro nomination.
In 164 career NFL games, the veteran safety has 972 combined tackles, 81 pass defenses and 36 interceptions. He will turn 33 years old in August.
All free agent contracts will become official in the NFL with the start of the new league year at 4 pm ET Wednesday.
Patriots Add Safety Kevin Byard to Secondary: Report
NFL insider Josina Anderson added more context to Byard’s signing shortly after Pelissero’s initial report.
Anderson provided that context while still in mid-conversation with the All-Pro safety.
“I am on the phone with Kevin Byard right now,” Anderson posted on X. “He told me ‘it was either Bears or the Patriots, and you know, I have relationship with Coach Vraves; and New England it is …”
Byard was already an All-Pro player before Vrabel arrived in Tennessee. During the 2017 campaign, Byard led the NFL with eight interceptions and also had 87 combined tackles, including three for loss and 16 pass defenses.
Those 16 pass defenses remain a career high for Byard.
But over the next five years in Vrabel’s defense, Byard was arguably the most underrated defender in the NFL.
He intercepted 19 passes with 43 pass defenses while playing for Vrabel. Byard also averaged 96 combined tackles, including about two tackles for loss per season.
In between his tenures with the Titans and Bears, Byard spent half a season with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Titans traded the safety to the Eagles in October 2023.
Philadelphia released Byard the following offseason. But he quickly joined the Bears in 2024 free agency.
In two seasons with Chicago, Byard averaged 111 combined tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 pass defenses per year. He registered a career-high 130 combined tackles during 2024.
Patriots Safety Depth Entering 2026
The past two seasons, veteran safety Jaylinn Hawkins played a significant role for the New England defense while on 1-year contracts. In 2025, Hawkins started 15 contests.
With Byard, the Patriots starting safety next to Craig Woodson will now be older than Hawkins. But a 2025 fourth-round pick, Woodson is entering just his second NFL campaign. The Patriots probably prefer Woodson continuing to play next to a veteran in 2026.
Byard offers an upgrade over Hawkins for the Patriots, who will be aiming to prove this fall that 2025 wasn’t a fluky Super Bowl run.
Hawkins is an unrestricted free agent.
Woodson led the Patriots defense with 950 defensive snaps last season. That was 93.23% of New England’s defensive snaps in the regular campaign.
Hawkins played 838 defensive snaps, which was third most on the team.
Byard didn’t miss a snap for the Bears defense during 2025. Since 2017, Byard has played at least 96% of his team’s defensive snaps every season.
Patriots Make $9 Million Move for 3-Time All-Pro Safety: Report