Soon-to-be free agent safety Jairus Byrd says that just because the Bills didn’t put the franchise tag on him, that doesn’t mean he’s definitely leaving Buffalo.
“The door is not closed on anything. I’m not closing the door on any opportunities at all. The lines of communication are still open,” Byrd told ESPN.com. “I’ve talked to [CEO] Russ [Brandon] and [general manager] Doug [Whaley] a couple days ago. We’re talking. So it’s not anything that’s hard feelings or anything like that. The conversations that we’ve had, we know what’s going on. We’re all on the same page. We’ll go from here.”
Byrd suggested that a report saying he turned down a three-year, $30 million contract from the Bills was incorrect.
“I don’t want to get into details, but I will say any time you have something where it’s a source, an unnamed source, and the full details of the situation aren’t revealed, you can’t really believe everything you hear,” Byrd said.
Still, while Byrd is willing to stay in Buffalo for the right deal, a better deal may come from elsewhere. The Browns, now coached by former Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, are expected to make Byrd an offer, and if Byrd is Cleveland’s top priority, the Browns have enough cap space that they could blow him away with a big offer. Byrd is still talking to the Bills now, but a week from now he may be talking about leaving Buffalo.