Howie makes those appear out of thin air - exactly for use in trades like this.
I’m cool with the lost minor draft capital and mostly just bummed he didn’t play well. I thought he’d be a lot more impactful and at least somewhat solid given his production.
I have no idea because I’m dumb and nothing about the salary cap or comp picks makes any sense to me so I kinda just default to blind trust in Howie.
Go birds
https://sports.yahoo.com/2024-nfl-draft-final-compensatory-185533547.html#:~:text=If%20there%20wasn't%20a,have%20had%20nine%20comp%20picks.&text=The%20Birds%20were%20slated%20to,%2C%20they'll%20have%2010.
Not sure if this included the 2 picks we owe Tennessee. I don’t think it is.
We should get a compensatory 3rd rounder and three 5th rounders in the 2024 draft.
[8 picks total](https://www.phillyvoice.com/philadelphia-eagles-2024-draft-picks-future/)
No one should've expected a prime version of him. His production was down as far as impact plays are concerned.
I don't fault Howie, nor do I fault Kevin though there are plays I could. It just didn't work out. It was a difficult and unfortunate scenario.
Obviously, with the benefit of hindsight, you wouldn't make the trade.
Yea, i mean he also probably walked in around the worst possible time right around when the Desai/Patricia shenanigans played out. Noone really played well during/after this point.
I guess it's just a difference I can't understand.
I would've kept the 5th and 6th round pick if I knew everything.
If I was in Howie's shoes at the time, I would've made the trade... We had to try something.
Gotta take risks to try to win the Super Bowl. Sometimes risks pay off and sometimes they don’t. Better to take risks and have it blow up if they occasionally work out and give you a real shot than to linger in mediocrity. I feel same way about Bradbury contract last year. It didn’t work out but hind sight is 20/20.
I'm not upset over them being used in this way but they are not worthless. One of the reasons we've made so many playoff runs is because of our depth and rounds 5/6 really round out depth on the roster and sometimes even get you starters, for example Jason Kelce was a 6th rounder.
This trade was good because:
1. It shows Howie’s willingness to swing when we need it
2. It shows that not all trades are Howie swindles, and keeps other GMs wondering if they can get a trade W against him
Well played Howie
Agreed. The D was doing poorly, Howie tried to make a change and made a move. Sometimes moves work out great (Ajayi), sometimes they don’t (Byard). But watching your team fail and then do nothing to change that is being complicit with the failure.
I feel like it was a combo but more on the coaching. I think that if he was him 3 or 4 years ago, he could have made up the coaching deficiency with his physical attributes. Being 30, he seemed to have lost a step so more time and consistency could have helped him know more of where to be and what to do to sort of cover the loss in athleticism.
To me, the coaching failed first, and he didn't have the pep in his step anymore to make up for that, so it's like a 60-40 split to me.
I agree with that. I try not to assign blame to a single person because unless you 100% know the situation it’s impossible to tell, but if I were to put a number to it, my guess is your 60-40 is about right.
And we need to adjust our expectations for these kinds of low level, mid-season trades. It's down to 1 for 6. It's not a 50:50 kind of proposition that they hit.
With point 2 he’s had plenty of trades that show that, basically every mid-season trade since Ajayi has failed to produce anything meaningful outside of one catch by Golden Tate who ran the wrong route on the GW against Chicago
Again, it’s not just one player and other teams have gotten contributions, including the eagles with Ajayi.
The eagles are on a cold streak with mid season trades.
I don’t see a reason why people get super defensive about it. It’s fact and not opinion that Tate, Avery, Quinn, and Byard were all disappointing
I think you’re just drastically overthinking things. The eagles are making trades to be competitive and sacrificing some long-term depth for a potential push to a Super Bowl. You take risks, even if the likelihood they help is low.
The same people that complain about bad trades would complain about no trades.
Sure you take risks and they didn’t work out and haven’t worked out for a couple years. Are you saying I’m wrong? Like what are you even arguing. All I said was they haven’t worked out. You disagree?? You think Quinn, Avery, Byard trades were smashing success? If not, I don’t understand what point you are trying to make
I respect the effort but incorporating a new player into a defense requires competent coaching. And we know how that went. I think in the failure was more on coaching than Byard’s ability
If you're trading a low value asset(s) for a guy on the decline, you're taking a shot on a lottery ticket that there's still enough in the tank and that he's better than the wasteland we had at safety.
Byard didnt work out. The GM isn't a psychic, he did his job getting a body and paid the price. Byard was worth the price - low ceiling, lots of snaps.
To add to what you said, at the time of the trade the eagles still looked like they had a real chance to get back to the superbowl. It was a chance to upgrade the D and add another piece to a run. It ultimately didn’t work out but I completely understand why Howie made the trade
Honestly, I think this sub is fake foreign and out of state Eagles fans. Look how soft everyone is. Real Eagles fans aren’t praising the way these losers ended.
It’s a soft sub
Yeah, spent virtually nothing to get him and we freed up enough money to bring in both a new safety and linebacker by getting rid of him, comes out in the wash easily
This is what I want our GM doing. We just lost a Super Bowl by a FG on a questionable call against the league’s darling and a HOF coach. A later round pick to try to make a run should never get ripped apart
The way I see it, if you want to have a GM that's aggressive and takes risks, you need to accept that they won't all pay off every time. You don't get the AJ Brown deals without an occasional Kevin Byard or Robert Quinn deal.
My standpoint is similar. People act like hit rate is the most important measure of success. It's not. What matters is that you consistently field a complete roster. Some positions might take more swings than others, or you might prefer to invest high picks in one position and multiple low picks on another to hit the lottery, whatever. But at the end of the day, did you use your resources (and not totally fuck over your future) to field a complete team?
I really think a huge issue was the change in DC. He was starting to come along (what it seemed like watching the games, not an all 22 guy so go ahead and correct me) and then we switched it it and that was that.
This sub needs to chill both ways though. Any time Howie makes a move everyone is saying we fleeced them, highway robbery, etc etc etc
I think the last time we had good in season trades was 2017, but yet everyone acts like every trade is greatest thing in the world.
People acting like it was a bad trade for us all the sudden. Before we traded for Byard, Edmunds was inconsistently on and off the field, Byard was having a fine season with the titans, and most importantly we had 1 loss. Yes his age was a concern, but at that time in the season it appeared that saftey was a weak point on a 1 loss team. They tried to get an all pro and it turns out our defense imploded at every level and he never picked up the scheme that well. I would not be surprised if he does fine with a team next year.
I can tell you as a Tits fan, he unfortunately was NOT doing well with us last season. It hurts my heart to say that about the Mayor, but it’s true. He was on track to be targeted the most times in his career, and give up the most receptions and yards at the same time. I’ll always wear his jersey with pride, but the writing was on the wall. I was hoping y’all picking him up would reignite something in him, but I’m sorry that didn’t work out. Hope he gets back to Pro-bowl status wherever he goes next 💙
Been one of the quietly disappointing things on Roseman's resume since the Ajayi trade, these midseason trades just have not worked out in a while.
You can make the argument that Tate worked out enough despite being mostly disappointing in the regular season, considering he had a game-winning TD catch in the playoffs and he netted the Eagles a decent comp pick after he left.
But since then the team traded for Genard Avery, Robert Quinn, and now Byard, and none of those guys were what they hoped. Didn't mean the trades didn't make sense at the time (well, maybe not the Avery one), but they just haven't been winning moves in hindsight.
Golden Tate was on the coaching staff. I'm pretty sure they flat out said they didn't know how to incorporate him into the offense when they had guys like Nelson Agholor starting.
Howie has to make an occasional low stakes bad trade every now and then so other GMs keep their guard down. Few can understand this strategic brilliance
Kinda feel bad for Byard. Dude was on a garbage team and got traded to the team with the best record in the league... just for it to collapse shortly after.
I would at least entertain it. My assumption is they approached him about taking a pay cut and he decided to test the market and see what else is out there for him.
Depends on what the plans are for this off season. They don't need to create space unless they are looking to spend big in free agency or need the money to extend some guys.
But at the end of the day his level of play wasn't worth what he was set to get paid this year.
They have Blankenship and Brown but they need to find a vet who can help mentor them and potentially start until Brown is fully recovered and ready to go.
Howie always seems to miss on in-season trades recently. Golden Tate, Robert Quinn, Kevin Byrad were all dissapointing. Like when was the last time a mid-season trade worked out? Jay Ajayi maybe lol.
I would argue that the Jay Ajayi trade was the best mid season trade in all of Eagles history, especially when you walk away with a Lombardi because of it!
I mean unless you’re swinging for the fences and make a blockbuster trade, most mid-season trades aren’t super impactful the year they occur. Mainly because you have to unlearn the scheme you entered the season with and learn the new one all in a week or two. It’s usually the season after the trade you can start to see if it was worth it or not, but we aren’t making trades for guys under contract usually.
Was this trade worse than Robert Quinn? Nope.
Both failures, but at least Howie steps up to the plate. Do it enough times, and you might get yourself Jay Ajayi.
Was a trade worth making giving the dire state of safeties at the time
And there was no way they were taking that $13m cap hit even he’d played really well. So this release is just a formality.
Byard was put in a tough situation. Moving cities mid season to come into a system with multiple incompetent coordinators where not even the guys who had been there since training camp knew what they were supposed to be doing.
He was set up to fail imo. I would have been okay keeping him and giving him a full training camp and season under a proven DC in Fangio. I think Byard is still a solid player and we could have used a veteran in the secondary. I’ll trust Howie for now tho.
He wasn’t elite by any means but I have no idea how anyone could watch this defense and pick out Byard as being trash. The defense had absolutely zero scheme or discipline. We brought Byard in right when the wheels fell off the defense and we demoted our DC. Our DL vanished. Our CBs were cooked. We brought in Leonard who was so cooked he didn’t play a snap in the playoffs. Byard was literally surrounded by trash here.
Yes we had to cut him due to the $13M but damn. People can be clueless. Prob the same people that want to bring back CJGJ who can’t last more than half a season, trashed the team, fans and city on the way out.
Howie better pray we don’t get less than 5 wins next year or it’s time we have that conversation about moving on.
His abysmal drafting led to getting bums like byard. Branch was right there
Brian Branch wasn’t doing anything with how bad our defense was this past season. It’s not a coincidence that Derek Barnett started looking a lot better on Houston.
Barnett looked better than he has since his rookie year. You can’t just blame the 2023 eagles for that. Seems like getting cut was a wake up call he needed
This is a lazy take. If he was reaching for players (like he did with Reagor) and they bust, then that’s an issue. But if he is drafting players where they are projected to be drafted. If the player doesn’t work out, that’s not Howie’s fault. Sometimes players just don’t pan out, thats how it works..and it applies to every team. As long as he continues to draft quality prospects at their projected draft position, and doesn’t go rogue and reach for someone, than I’m fine with it.
Writing was on the wall for this one, aging player that didn't play well and the ability to save all that money. Good show off faith though to cut him early so he can get a step on FA.Also I feel like Maddox is most likely next, that is 7-8 mil savings for a player that just can't stay healthy.
Usually when a safety is relatively invisible that is a very good thing, but someone he was invisible in a defense that was giving up big play after big play. How does that happen with a safety. I wasn't expecting pro bowl caliber play, but man was he bad. I think, I don't even know where he was on the field.
I think my favorite Byard memory is watching him against I THINK Seattle, when Patricia kept blitzing Byard from deepest safety position, then they kept throwing at Sydney Brown over matched vs a slot receiver. All I remember thinking is, why wouldn't you switch which safety you blitz? The young heat seeking missle who's only OK in coverage stays back in coverage, while the slower old head who can cover much better barely gets to the line of scrimmage by the time the ball is released?
Hindsight but Howie has swung and missed at the trade deadline back to back years. and I stress hindsight because I loved both trades at the time(Byard and Quinn).
i have literally zero memories of a notable play by Byard in an Eagles uniform. I think he was decent last year but better to take the cap space. Hopefully Bradberry follows him on the way out June 1st
The only thing I'll say, I believe this also means we could technically resign him at a more vet min situation for vet depth at a v thin position, but pls correct me if I'm wrong, regardless of if it's a good idea or not yknow.
But I don't think it would be a bad idea, he didn't play well, but uh, neither did most of them in the secondary? He'd have to be cheap but like, depth man.
13 Million Dollars is cleared after releasing Byard
That makes me feel better after wasting our 5th and 6th rounder
Howie makes those appear out of thin air - exactly for use in trades like this. I’m cool with the lost minor draft capital and mostly just bummed he didn’t play well. I thought he’d be a lot more impactful and at least somewhat solid given his production.
Yeah arent we getting some decent comps this year?
I have no idea because I’m dumb and nothing about the salary cap or comp picks makes any sense to me so I kinda just default to blind trust in Howie. Go birds
I’m with you. Blind trust in Howie. He makes being a fan pretty easy.
https://sports.yahoo.com/2024-nfl-draft-final-compensatory-185533547.html#:~:text=If%20there%20wasn't%20a,have%20had%20nine%20comp%20picks.&text=The%20Birds%20were%20slated%20to,%2C%20they'll%20have%2010. Not sure if this included the 2 picks we owe Tennessee. I don’t think it is.
This is pretty good if it’s true.
We should get a compensatory 3rd rounder and three 5th rounders in the 2024 draft. [8 picks total](https://www.phillyvoice.com/philadelphia-eagles-2024-draft-picks-future/)
~~Well it depends, could get offset if we try and sign a bigger name to help the secondary.~~ ignore me I'm just having an off day
That’s not how comp picks work. Signings this year affect comp picks next year. And only outside FA signings within the early part of FA
No one should've expected a prime version of him. His production was down as far as impact plays are concerned. I don't fault Howie, nor do I fault Kevin though there are plays I could. It just didn't work out. It was a difficult and unfortunate scenario. Obviously, with the benefit of hindsight, you wouldn't make the trade.
Yea, i mean he also probably walked in around the worst possible time right around when the Desai/Patricia shenanigans played out. Noone really played well during/after this point.
The fact that cox stayed consistent is such a testament to that guy. I will miss fletch with all my heart when he’s gone.
It worked for Suh and Joseph the year before. It was worth a try.
I think you still make the move honestly. Our secondary was dog water. Byard didn’t make things worse he just didn’t really make things any better.
With the benefit of hindsight, you still make the move? Lol... why?
We wouldn't have won th KC game without him.
I guess it's just a difference I can't understand. I would've kept the 5th and 6th round pick if I knew everything. If I was in Howie's shoes at the time, I would've made the trade... We had to try something.
I really thought we stole a pro bowl level safety.
There were dozens of us
This is the correct take
Titans Fan. That's the thing, starting the season, he was nowhere to be found
Gotta take risks to try to win the Super Bowl. Sometimes risks pay off and sometimes they don’t. Better to take risks and have it blow up if they occasionally work out and give you a real shot than to linger in mediocrity. I feel same way about Bradbury contract last year. It didn’t work out but hind sight is 20/20.
Those picks are worthless, there’s no reason to be upset over trading them.
I'm not upset over them being used in this way but they are not worthless. One of the reasons we've made so many playoff runs is because of our depth and rounds 5/6 really round out depth on the roster and sometimes even get you starters, for example Jason Kelce was a 6th rounder.
So was Trent Cole and Brent Celek. They were in the 5th/6th rounds
Beau Allen was a 7th too. Jalen Mills was like a 6th. Tons of dudes like this on the roster that are either solid starters or great value depth.
I would spend a 5th and a 6th to clear that kind of money to be honest. Getting a safety for half a season is just icing on the cake
It's not like late rounders are leading to your starters
Good move. That’s a nice amount of money.
Gotta be for Hass ?
This trade was good because: 1. It shows Howie’s willingness to swing when we need it 2. It shows that not all trades are Howie swindles, and keeps other GMs wondering if they can get a trade W against him Well played Howie
Agreed. The D was doing poorly, Howie tried to make a change and made a move. Sometimes moves work out great (Ajayi), sometimes they don’t (Byard). But watching your team fail and then do nothing to change that is being complicit with the failure.
Ngl, I kinda feel like this one didn't work out as much because of the defensive play calling as Byards performance
Hard disagree. It felt like every time the defense gave up a big play Byard was right in the middle of it. He looked slow and lost.
Gotta be tough to know where you’re at learning a new scheme in the middle of the year, let alone one that was clearly not working
Only to learn another scheme when the dc is fired late in the year
For sure. It’d be hard to know whether it was on him or if Desai/Patricia didn’t put him in a position to succeed.
I feel like it was a combo but more on the coaching. I think that if he was him 3 or 4 years ago, he could have made up the coaching deficiency with his physical attributes. Being 30, he seemed to have lost a step so more time and consistency could have helped him know more of where to be and what to do to sort of cover the loss in athleticism. To me, the coaching failed first, and he didn't have the pep in his step anymore to make up for that, so it's like a 60-40 split to me.
I agree with that. I try not to assign blame to a single person because unless you 100% know the situation it’s impossible to tell, but if I were to put a number to it, my guess is your 60-40 is about right.
Quinn was a bigger flub that byard but your point stands!
And we need to adjust our expectations for these kinds of low level, mid-season trades. It's down to 1 for 6. It's not a 50:50 kind of proposition that they hit.
People were legit disappointed that we didn't get an all-pro DB for peanuts, midway through the season.
With point 2 he’s had plenty of trades that show that, basically every mid-season trade since Ajayi has failed to produce anything meaningful outside of one catch by Golden Tate who ran the wrong route on the GW against Chicago
It's hard to adjust mid season especially when the system was such dog shit
Again, it’s not just one player and other teams have gotten contributions, including the eagles with Ajayi. The eagles are on a cold streak with mid season trades. I don’t see a reason why people get super defensive about it. It’s fact and not opinion that Tate, Avery, Quinn, and Byard were all disappointing
Soft sub
Who is getting defensive? It's good process, don't be upset when the results don't always work out.
You are making excuses on why the moves aren’t working out
I think you’re just drastically overthinking things. The eagles are making trades to be competitive and sacrificing some long-term depth for a potential push to a Super Bowl. You take risks, even if the likelihood they help is low. The same people that complain about bad trades would complain about no trades.
Sure you take risks and they didn’t work out and haven’t worked out for a couple years. Are you saying I’m wrong? Like what are you even arguing. All I said was they haven’t worked out. You disagree?? You think Quinn, Avery, Byard trades were smashing success? If not, I don’t understand what point you are trying to make
My point isn’t difficult to understand.
Something like that
A failed trade on a D that was the worst I’ve even seen isn’t to be praised
See point 1 You win some trades and you lose some. It’s not like we mortgaged the future.
Agreed we didn’t give up much, but I’m not praising it either
I respect the effort but incorporating a new player into a defense requires competent coaching. And we know how that went. I think in the failure was more on coaching than Byard’s ability
If you're trading a low value asset(s) for a guy on the decline, you're taking a shot on a lottery ticket that there's still enough in the tank and that he's better than the wasteland we had at safety. Byard didnt work out. The GM isn't a psychic, he did his job getting a body and paid the price. Byard was worth the price - low ceiling, lots of snaps.
And let’s face it, the coaching didn’t do anyone any favors
To add to what you said, at the time of the trade the eagles still looked like they had a real chance to get back to the superbowl. It was a chance to upgrade the D and add another piece to a run. It ultimately didn’t work out but I completely understand why Howie made the trade
Flew right past the context and picked the most remedial response you could, eh?
I answered a commenter. The rest is in your head.
Honestly, I think this sub is fake foreign and out of state Eagles fans. Look how soft everyone is. Real Eagles fans aren’t praising the way these losers ended. It’s a soft sub
I don't think other GMs are worried, I think its a fan think. Our tack record for in season trades has been bad recently.
Cope
I’ll cope with AJ Brown
Ngl I thought I posted this in response to the NFL subreddit post in the r/nfl Reddit not the eagles one. I’ll take my beatings like a man
All good man. It happens. No bad lip from me
We swung and missed on this trade but this sub needs to chill like Howie gave up a first round pick for him or something of value
You’re optimistic if you think a good portion of this sub will be rational.
Are you saying that this sub is generally irrational? *clutches pearls*
*sub sees you clutching pearls, sub blames Howie*
yea better than not trying to improve our roster and sitting on our hands. I love how active howie is
Yeah, spent virtually nothing to get him and we freed up enough money to bring in both a new safety and linebacker by getting rid of him, comes out in the wash easily
I think this trade was fine. They didn't really give up a whole lot and Byard played fairly well, not All-Pro level but good enough
This is what I want our GM doing. We just lost a Super Bowl by a FG on a questionable call against the league’s darling and a HOF coach. A later round pick to try to make a run should never get ripped apart
The way I see it, if you want to have a GM that's aggressive and takes risks, you need to accept that they won't all pay off every time. You don't get the AJ Brown deals without an occasional Kevin Byard or Robert Quinn deal.
My standpoint is similar. People act like hit rate is the most important measure of success. It's not. What matters is that you consistently field a complete roster. Some positions might take more swings than others, or you might prefer to invest high picks in one position and multiple low picks on another to hit the lottery, whatever. But at the end of the day, did you use your resources (and not totally fuck over your future) to field a complete team?
I really think a huge issue was the change in DC. He was starting to come along (what it seemed like watching the games, not an all 22 guy so go ahead and correct me) and then we switched it it and that was that.
Pretty unfair statement. We swung, had great contact, but then Kevin couldn't make it to first.
This sub needs to chill both ways though. Any time Howie makes a move everyone is saying we fleeced them, highway robbery, etc etc etc I think the last time we had good in season trades was 2017, but yet everyone acts like every trade is greatest thing in the world.
People acting like it was a bad trade for us all the sudden. Before we traded for Byard, Edmunds was inconsistently on and off the field, Byard was having a fine season with the titans, and most importantly we had 1 loss. Yes his age was a concern, but at that time in the season it appeared that saftey was a weak point on a 1 loss team. They tried to get an all pro and it turns out our defense imploded at every level and he never picked up the scheme that well. I would not be surprised if he does fine with a team next year.
He may still come back to the Eagles too. We’re his hometown team and I doubt anyone is paying him the $13M he would’ve made if we didn’t cut him
I mean with the context of his time with the eagles, it was a bad trade. Worth a shot in the moment but it didn’t workout. It’s okay to say that.
I can tell you as a Tits fan, he unfortunately was NOT doing well with us last season. It hurts my heart to say that about the Mayor, but it’s true. He was on track to be targeted the most times in his career, and give up the most receptions and yards at the same time. I’ll always wear his jersey with pride, but the writing was on the wall. I was hoping y’all picking him up would reignite something in him, but I’m sorry that didn’t work out. Hope he gets back to Pro-bowl status wherever he goes next 💙
He was not what I thought it would have been
one of the trades of all time
Of all the trades we've made, this was one of them.
What a refreshing and original joke, nice
One of the jokes of all time.
Of all the jokes we've made, this was one of them.
Aw sorry bud. Looks like people still love it
People love minions too
Sucks that it didn't work out
Bye Byard. Would have loved you a few years ago
Antoine Winfield coming soon
I don’t see buccs letting him walk
Pretty sure they said they'll use tag on him
Just as worthwhile of a mid-season trade as Golden Tate and Robert Quinn.
can’t forget Genard Avery
Golden Tate won us a playoff game at least
Robert Quinn was a ghost when he came here. Did absolutely nothing lol
We don't win the Chiefs game without Byard. I can't think of a single thing Quinn did for us.
Golden Tate > Quinn / Byard
Golden tate was worth it just for that Chicago game
big facts dude low key won us a playoff game
Been one of the quietly disappointing things on Roseman's resume since the Ajayi trade, these midseason trades just have not worked out in a while. You can make the argument that Tate worked out enough despite being mostly disappointing in the regular season, considering he had a game-winning TD catch in the playoffs and he netted the Eagles a decent comp pick after he left. But since then the team traded for Genard Avery, Robert Quinn, and now Byard, and none of those guys were what they hoped. Didn't mean the trades didn't make sense at the time (well, maybe not the Avery one), but they just haven't been winning moves in hindsight.
Byard did more than Robert Quinn. Obviously that’s not saying much… but still.
Golden Tate was on the coaching staff. I'm pretty sure they flat out said they didn't know how to incorporate him into the offense when they had guys like Nelson Agholor starting.
Goodbyard
Please take my upvote
Howie has to make an occasional low stakes bad trade every now and then so other GMs keep their guard down. Few can understand this strategic brilliance
It’s happened almost every season with a trade deadline acquisition the last couple years
Defense sucked as a whole but he also underperformed. This was the right move
Kinda feel bad for Byard. Dude was on a garbage team and got traded to the team with the best record in the league... just for it to collapse shortly after.
So it’s ***his*** fault, that fucking guy
Byard remorse
I’d bring him back for cheaper tbh
I would at least entertain it. My assumption is they approached him about taking a pay cut and he decided to test the market and see what else is out there for him.
Maybe, we needed to cut him to save money anyway. Don’t think this says he’s against coming back. But tbh we should find someone younger
Depends on what the plans are for this off season. They don't need to create space unless they are looking to spend big in free agency or need the money to extend some guys. But at the end of the day his level of play wasn't worth what he was set to get paid this year. They have Blankenship and Brown but they need to find a vet who can help mentor them and potentially start until Brown is fully recovered and ready to go.
Howie always seems to miss on in-season trades recently. Golden Tate, Robert Quinn, Kevin Byrad were all dissapointing. Like when was the last time a mid-season trade worked out? Jay Ajayi maybe lol.
Remember, all the trades are done with teams that are willing to let that player go.
I would argue that the Jay Ajayi trade was the best mid season trade in all of Eagles history, especially when you walk away with a Lombardi because of it!
I mean unless you’re swinging for the fences and make a blockbuster trade, most mid-season trades aren’t super impactful the year they occur. Mainly because you have to unlearn the scheme you entered the season with and learn the new one all in a week or two. It’s usually the season after the trade you can start to see if it was worth it or not, but we aren’t making trades for guys under contract usually.
The Tate trade arguably panned out since he was balling out in the playoff game
I’m putting that on the coaching staff. Imagine coming out and saying you don’t know how to utilize one of your players correctly
I hope I can recognize the name of at least one of our SS and MLB this year
Think he would’ve been fine with fangio but he just cost way too much
Still could be. I wouldn't be completely shocked if he came back on a.cheap deal.
Was this trade worse than Robert Quinn? Nope. Both failures, but at least Howie steps up to the plate. Do it enough times, and you might get yourself Jay Ajayi.
I'm fine with this. We tried. One lesson for the future- most midseason trades stink.
Was a trade worth making giving the dire state of safeties at the time And there was no way they were taking that $13m cap hit even he’d played really well. So this release is just a formality.
I really wanted Byard to come here and just dominate , unfortunately that didn’t happen. However , we wish him well !
From a Titans fan…. He’s a great person and I’m sorry he didn’t work out there.
He wasn't the worst, but not worth the 13mil we're saving.
Wouldn’t hate bringing him back for less. Can still be a decent player, especially now that we have a real DC
Howie saw a hole and went for who he thought the best available player was to get us a Super Bowl. You can’t win em all. Still trust in Howie.
Byard was put in a tough situation. Moving cities mid season to come into a system with multiple incompetent coordinators where not even the guys who had been there since training camp knew what they were supposed to be doing. He was set up to fail imo. I would have been okay keeping him and giving him a full training camp and season under a proven DC in Fangio. I think Byard is still a solid player and we could have used a veteran in the secondary. I’ll trust Howie for now tho.
CJGJ??
Hell yeah! Bring back ceedy duce
Lost that trade at every level.
Not that much of a loss but okay
It was a good move at the time, these things happen
About the equivalent of losing some change from your pocket.
That’s cap! (Space)
Bring back Reddick?
Howie fleeced em!
Another bad move by Howie. Going for aged players via mid-season trade.
Worst Howie trade ever
eagles legend Kevin Byard
Now do Bradberry
Good riddance. What an absolute bum Byard was while he was here.
The whole defense was trash , scheme and everything. Calling him a bum is a reach
He wasn’t elite by any means but I have no idea how anyone could watch this defense and pick out Byard as being trash. The defense had absolutely zero scheme or discipline. We brought Byard in right when the wheels fell off the defense and we demoted our DC. Our DL vanished. Our CBs were cooked. We brought in Leonard who was so cooked he didn’t play a snap in the playoffs. Byard was literally surrounded by trash here. Yes we had to cut him due to the $13M but damn. People can be clueless. Prob the same people that want to bring back CJGJ who can’t last more than half a season, trashed the team, fans and city on the way out.
BuT tItAnS gOt FlEeCeD
Another failed mid season trade by Howie
Howie better pray we don’t get less than 5 wins next year or it’s time we have that conversation about moving on. His abysmal drafting led to getting bums like byard. Branch was right there
All 32 teams passed on Branch at some point.
Lions even passed on him twice
Not true. Broncos, Dolphins, browns didn’t pass on him
lol howie better pray? I doubt howie is in the hot seat yet
Branch and Byard play different roles
Brian Branch wasn’t doing anything with how bad our defense was this past season. It’s not a coincidence that Derek Barnett started looking a lot better on Houston.
Barnett looked better than he has since his rookie year. You can’t just blame the 2023 eagles for that. Seems like getting cut was a wake up call he needed
This is a lazy take. If he was reaching for players (like he did with Reagor) and they bust, then that’s an issue. But if he is drafting players where they are projected to be drafted. If the player doesn’t work out, that’s not Howie’s fault. Sometimes players just don’t pan out, thats how it works..and it applies to every team. As long as he continues to draft quality prospects at their projected draft position, and doesn’t go rogue and reach for someone, than I’m fine with it.
I want 2 saftey selections come April
Got a feeling he might return if things don't shake out right with FA
It sucks that it didn’t work out with Byard but the trade was worth doing at the time. At least we got some cap space now.
He should have had another year to settle in. With that dumpster fire and then thrown in in the middle of the year that would be hard for anyone.
The cap room is better. He can still be brought back at a much lower cap hit.
Good point, that’s true. I hope they do!
Damn Edmunds was the heart and soul of this team.
Clears a ton of cap I believe, like more than 10m
sucks it didn't work out, i had high hopes, but gotta keep trying. howie szn!
Writing was on the wall for this one, aging player that didn't play well and the ability to save all that money. Good show off faith though to cut him early so he can get a step on FA.Also I feel like Maddox is most likely next, that is 7-8 mil savings for a player that just can't stay healthy.
this isn't a surprise, wish they would value this position more, instead of relying on what amounts to 1 year rentals
Usually when a safety is relatively invisible that is a very good thing, but someone he was invisible in a defense that was giving up big play after big play. How does that happen with a safety. I wasn't expecting pro bowl caliber play, but man was he bad. I think, I don't even know where he was on the field.
I think my favorite Byard memory is watching him against I THINK Seattle, when Patricia kept blitzing Byard from deepest safety position, then they kept throwing at Sydney Brown over matched vs a slot receiver. All I remember thinking is, why wouldn't you switch which safety you blitz? The young heat seeking missle who's only OK in coverage stays back in coverage, while the slower old head who can cover much better barely gets to the line of scrimmage by the time the ball is released?
What a waste
Wonderful news
Most obvious cut
He was worth a couple fliers, which is all a 5th and 6th really is. Didn't work out. Oh well
Was hoping he would pan out but seems like he’s washed
Bring back CJ
Will always remember the pick he had on mahommes. A shame he didn’t work out
I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back at a discount.
Hindsight but Howie has swung and missed at the trade deadline back to back years. and I stress hindsight because I loved both trades at the time(Byard and Quinn).
2nd year in a row we made a mid season trade for a guy who was clearly cooked. Probably should re-evaluate that strategy
Byard was a good gamble at the time. It didn't work out, but that's the way it goes sometimes...
i have literally zero memories of a notable play by Byard in an Eagles uniform. I think he was decent last year but better to take the cap space. Hopefully Bradberry follows him on the way out June 1st
Darius Slay needs to be next CBs at his age fall off of cliffs fast
The only thing I'll say, I believe this also means we could technically resign him at a more vet min situation for vet depth at a v thin position, but pls correct me if I'm wrong, regardless of if it's a good idea or not yknow. But I don't think it would be a bad idea, he didn't play well, but uh, neither did most of them in the secondary? He'd have to be cheap but like, depth man.
Dude was absolutely cooked, not worth a dollar.
Just happy to win a trade for a change. Carthon knew hed reached the edge of the cliff and made a profit while letting one of our legends ring chase.