Kevin Byard wastes no time showing leadership qualities in Eagles debut

LANDOVER, Md. — Kevin Byard had some built-in excuses if he wanted to use them.

The veteran safety didn’t get traded to the Eagles until Tuesday. His first practice was Thursday. He had less than a week to learn the playbook and figure out how to play alongside his new teammates in the Eagles’ secondary.

But Byard wasn’t interested in any of those excuses after the Eagles’ 38-31 win over the Commanders.

He didn’t play well enough. Neither did the secondary. 

And that needs to change.

“Obviously, I just got here this week, but the way that game ended, I would never apologize and I think we should never apologize for winning in this league. It’s very hard to do,” Byard said. “But, as a secondary, back seven, we have to be better — 100 percent. I don’t think we were clean enough on the details.”

Byard, 30, spent the first 7 1/2 years of his career in Tennessee, where he became a key leader for the Titans. It didn’t take long for those leadership qualities to reveal themselves in the Eagles’ locker room on Sunday night.

For a team that prides itself on accountability, it seems like Byard is going to fit right in.

“There’s a certain standard we need to have as DBs, period,” Byard said. “I think we didn’t live up to that standard today, honestly. We won. It’s great that we won. I’m happy that we won.

“But I just think as a whole, and that’s something we’re going to talk about this week, we have to practice harder, we have to meet better, we have to do all those things to make sure we’re giving ourselves a great chance to win games.”

The Eagles did, of course, win the game on Sunday. They improved to 7-1 and have the best record in the NFL.

But Commanders quarterback Sam Howell completed 75% of his passes for 397 yards and 4 touchdowns on Sunday afternoon at FedExField. Eventually, safety Reed Blankenship had a huge interception in the fourth quarter but there’s a lot to clean up this week in the secondary.

And Byard certainly wasn’t giving himself a pass. When asked if any letdown on his part is excusable because of how recently he arrived, Byard seemed almost offended.

“Nah, nah, nah, nah. We’re professional football players,” Byard said. “You’re supposed to make the hard look easy. So just because I came here on a Tuesday and practiced the next day, doesn’t make me exempt from not going out there and putting on a good product. That’s just what it is. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us or nothing like that.”

While Blankenship got a huge interception in the fourth quarter, the second-year safety didn’t have his best game against the Commanders. In fact, before that pick, he was having his worst game of the season.

But when Blankenship gave up plays, Byard was there on the sideline telling him to forget it.

“KB, I’m glad I have him,” Blankenship said. “He has my back. He said, ‘Look, just shake it off. That’s what happens.’ In the league, it’s one of those things where you can get exposed sometimes but you just gotta shake it off.”

Byard and Blankenship are both products of Middle Tennessee State and while they were never teammates at MTSU, they knew each other before the trade. In fact, they even trained together this summer.

After the win on Sunday, Byard explained why he felt like he needed to give Blankenship some words of encouragement during Sunday’s game.

“I’ve never played a perfect game since I’ve been in this league,” Byard said. “Nobody is ever going to play a perfect game. So you’re going to give up some plays here and there. You obviously don’t want them to continue to snowball. But at the end of the day, we need him.

“You’re going to play every snap. So if you’re going to continue to go out there, you have to flush every single play. Bad play, good play, whatever. Just flush it and go onto the next one and that’s what he did.”

It’s not like the Eagles were short on leaders before Byard arrived. They named nine captains for the 2023 season and three of them — Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox and Darius Slay — are on the defensive side of the ball.

It can sometimes be tricky for a veteran to join a team during the season and find his place from a leadership perspective. But Byard is a two-time All-Pro safety with plenty of clout.

“We have great leadership on this team,” he said. “I’m not about to overstep anybody, boundaries or anything like that. I’m just going to do what I need to do and try to fill where needed as far as leadership. If that needs to be speaking to a guy like Reed on the sideline, then that’s what I’ll do. But obviously as I get more comfortable, I’ll be more vocal for sure.”

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