Bills CEO Russ Brandon said last month that trading safety Jairus Byrd wasn’t “a topic of conversation” around the team, but a report on Sunday indicates things have changed in Buffalo.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Bills believe the “wisest course of action” is to trade Byrd and that they are open to making such a deal. Per Schefter, talks are ongoing on a deal.
If the Bills have decided not to sign Byrd to a lucrative, long-term deal after the season it is easy to understand why they’d be willing to pull the trigger on a trade. Byrd has not played yet this season because of a foot injury and hasn’t been shy about expressing his displeasure about not getting such a contract before signing his franchise tender at the end of the summer.
Complicating matters for a trade beyond Byrd’s foot injury, which Byrd said has healed enough that he felt ready to play on Thursday night before the Bills decided to leave him inactive, is the fact that no team can extend Byrd until after the season comes to an end. We’ll find out in the next few weeks if that stumbling block is too great.