Kevin Byard is an American football free safety who plays in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans. He was drafted in the 2016 NFL Draft by the Chargers in the third round, as the 64th overall pick. 

Byard was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 17th August 1993. After his parents’ divorce when he was 14, he moved to Atlanta and did his schooling at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in Lithonia there. Thereafter, he committed to Middle Tennessee State University to play his college football for the Blue Raiders between 2012 and 2015. He enjoyed a fruitful spell with the Blue Raiders, getting named First-Team All-Conference USA in 2014 as well as 2015, and making a university-record 19 career interceptions- the most in school history. 

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Byard became the first pick of the third round- 64th overall, in the 2016 NFL Draft when the Tennessee Titans signed him to a 4-year $3.63 million contract with an $897,060 signing bonus. He was named as backup safety prior to the regular season. 

Byard made his NFL debut in the 2016 season opener against the Minnesota Vikings, making 5 solo tackles in a 25-16 loss. Injuries to the starters propelled him to the starting positions and he made his first NFL start on 13th November against the Green Bay Packers, on a day in which he recorded 7 solo tackles and his first ever sack in a 47-25 victory. He completed his rookie campaign with 58 tackles (44 solo), a sack, and four pass deflections in 16 games, of which he had started 7. Pro Football Focus recognised his rookie exploits ranking him 2nd among rookie safeties. 

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He was named starter prior to his second campaign and it was a flourishing one for the NFL sophomore. After his 16 games, all of which were starts, he led the league with 8 interceptions and also recorded 87 tackles (62 solo) and 16 pass deflections. He was named a first-team All-Pro and with a grade of 89.0 from Pro Football Focus, ranked fourth amongst all qualifying safeties. He made his first Pro-Bowl appearance that year and was ranked 80th by his fellow professionals on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.

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In July 2019, Byard signed a 5-year contract extension with the Titans that would earn him $70.5 million with $31 million guaranteed- that made him the highest-paid safety in NFL history at the time.