Forcing the most turnovers in the league last season covered up a lot of sins for the Chicago Bears' defense in 2025. At the forefront of that was safety Kevin Byard, who led the NFL with seven interceptions on his way to the third Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro nods of his career.
Byard hit free agency in March, and the one-year deal he got from the New England Patriots felt like something the Bears should have willingly matched. But general manager Ryan Poles was open about a desire to get younger and more athletic defensively, and re-signing someone who'll be 33 by the time the 2026 season starts didn't align with that idea.
Taking Byard's place is Coby Bryant, who was a key part of a defense that helped the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl last year. Bryant is an ideal mix of skill, age (27), and experience.
Byard's ball-hawking ways aren't easy to replace, but the Bears are going to try within what they hope will be a better overall defensive unit this season.
Why the Bears won't really miss Kevin Byard
FanSided's Justin Carter recently outlined five NFL stars who are destined to regress this season. Byard rounded out the list.
"In 2025, for the second time in his NFL career, Kevin Byard led the NFL in interceptions, notching seven of them while playing for the Chicago Bears. Now Byard, who turns 33 in August, is off to New England, where he joins a Patriots team that made it to the Super Bowl last season."
"So, why expect regression from Byard? Well...for every reason I just mentioned. He's getting older. He has nowhere to go but down after leading the NFL in picks. He's going to have to adjust to a new team, which won't be easy, and there's a player behind him on the depth chart who might surprisingly challenge him for snaps."
"Also, interceptions are fluky! Byard had seven of them last season, but just two interceptions combined over the previous two seasons. Even if he wasn't on the wrong side of 30, expecting him to replicate last season's success would be a stretch. Add in concerns about his age, and it's just not going to happen."
Dennis Allen's defensive scheme certainly impacted Byard in a positive way last season. Interceptions are inherently fluky, though, and even without regard for being on a different team/in a different scheme, he will have a hard time replicating what he did.
Byard, of course, had a better overall Pro Football Focus grade than Bryant last season, coming at No. 14 among qualifying safeties while Bryant was No. 28. But he also needed that lofty interception total to register a top-25 coverage grade, and while a 98.6 passer rating allowed is fine, Bryant allowed just a 54.0 passer rating in his coverage last season.
Those seven picks also covered for Byard allowing a career-worst 10.5 yards per target in coverage last season (Bryant landed at 8.1).
If Byard ends up with a big interception total again this season, it will require a deeper look at things from a Bears' perspective. How did the defense perform compared to 2025? Was Bryant actually a more effective player overall?
Read more: There's a reason to be all-in on a third-year breakout for Rome Odunze
But if Byard regresses in the interception column, like it's easy to expect he will, the value and impact equation will shift toward Bryant fairly naturally. The Bears also won't miss Byard one bit, as they made clear they didn't expect him to be back in March.
Add us as a preferred source on Google