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Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard has landed in the top half of Pro Football Focus’ safety rankings ahead of the 2021 campaign.
PFF’s Sam Monson ranked Byard as the No. 12 safety in the NFL despite having a down year in 2020. Here’s what Monson had to say:
Byard’s play has dropped off recently after two seasons of spectacular PFF grades above 85.0. This most recent season saw him post career-low marks in overall grade (65.8) and coverage grade (61.5), which drags him outside of the top 10, such is the strength of competition. If Byard can bounce back to his best, he is a top-10 safety in this league.
After signing a five-year, $70.5 million extension in 2019 and posting a solid year shortly after, Byard took a step back in 2020, having arguably his worst season in the NFL.
Regression was the theme of the entire Titans defense, though. Several Titans defenders saw the same result, leading to the team sporting one of the worst units in the league.
Byard survived the secondary purge this offseason, but there’s no question he’ll need to step his game up if he hopes to play out the entirety of his contract, which has potential outs in each of its last three years.
The good news for Byard and the rest of the Titans’ defense is that there is nowhere to go but up from here.
The veteran safety, who we still believe is an elite talent at his position, will play a key role in Tennessee’s defensive revamp in 2021 and should perform much better with more help around him.
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