Speaking at his pre-draft press conference, Titans GM Ran Carthon admitted they did ask veteran S Kevin Byard to take a pay cut, per Terry McCormick.
However, he says Byard did not ask to be traded or released after that and any reports saying so are false.
Teams often approach players about pay cuts when their performance has declined and it’s viewed as a better alternative than being outright cut.
However, Byard is still playing at a high level, so it would be surprising if Tennesee released him. It’s curious they thought they had the leverage to ask for a pay cut in the first place.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Byard would free up $5,991,000 of available cap space while creating $13,632,000 million in dead money.
Byard, 29, is a former third-round pick by the Titans in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $3,237,060 rookie contract and set to make a base salary of $2.025 million in 2019 when he signed a five-year, $70.5 million extension in 2019.
Byard stands to make base salaries of $13,600,000 for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
In 2022, Byard appeared in all 17 games for the Titans and recorded 107 tackles, four interceptions and six pass defenses.
We’ll have more regarding Byard as the news is available.
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