Kevin Byard is giving the Bears something to think about, but he’s already made his stance on future talks in Chicago clear
The veteran safety will likely opt to keep the main thing the main thing.
The Chicago Bears have been one of the NFL’s biggest surprises in the first season under head coach Ben Johnson riding a 7-3 record and have sole possession of the NFC North lead entering Week 12.
The recipe for success for Chicago has been clear all season and it’s centered around the turnover battle, along with some clutch late-game drives by quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense.
But the takeaway success speaks for itself. Chicago is 6-0 this season in games with 2+ takeaways on defense. The man leading the pack is veteran safety Kevin Byard, who’s playing out the 2025 season on a contract year and giving the front office a lot to start thinking about.
It should be time to start ironing out deal with Kevin Byard, but it’s not a simple process
Byard has absolutely deserved a new deal with the Bears with his current contract set to expire after the 2025 season, but there’s also not some looming clock that can threaten his future in Chicago. When the season ends, both sides can get together and start working through the details, and that’s something Byard himself said he would like to wait for the last time he discussed his future.
“For me personally, I would love to be here,” Byard said back in May. “I’ve loved being here over the last year and going forward. This thing is year-to-year and honestly, it’s probably going to be year-to-year for the rest of my career until I’m done playing.
This is always going to be year-to-year. I put everything, my heart and my soul into this year, to this team, to this group of guys, and then we revisit those things in the offseason. I would love to be here long-term, to finish my career with the Chicago Bears. That’s all I’m focused on right now.”
It’s also rare to see an in-season extension from this front office. Since hiring general manager Ryan Poles, the Bears have only handed out three in-season trades (Montez Sweat, Cairo Santos, and Andrew Billings) and the Sweat deal should honestly be viewed as an outlier since it came after a trade inheriting an existing deal that was set to expire.
It’s a great sign that Byard wants to keep the main thing the main thing by focusing on the season and he can still get the commitment he deserves from the team for the way he’s played through the first 11 weeks of the season.
Since the beginning of the year, the Bears have been specific with the players they’ve wanted to tie together for the future in this new regime under new head coach Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
Until you work with the players and the players work with the coaches, it’s best for all parties involved to wait on signing extensions with the team. But, Byard seems thrilled with his role in Allen’s scheme and the results are speaking for itself on the field with his level of play at age 32.
“I think that’s the best thing about every single week, you get excited for the Thursday morning meeting to try to see what the package is going to be like this week,” Byard explained. “He’s going to blitz the safety, blitz the backers, he’s going to drop everybody in coverage. You really never know. I think that’s the good thing about it, he’s going to keep the offensive coordinator on his toes.”
While he’s earned a rare in-season extension from the Bears’ front office, I could totally see Byard continue taking a team-first approach and holding off contract talks until the season’s over.
He deserves to get a new deal that keeps him in Chicago for another season and he’ll eventually get one, but don’t expect it to come during the season.
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He should be happy with the result but frustrated by the process.
