Bobby Bones (1:52)

If you're a rookie and you come in, you got a guy who's obviously a veteran. Do you talk to the. And he's not your position, he's not on your side of the ball. Do you have a relationship with those guys at all?

Kevin Byard (2:01)

Not, I mean, outside of. Cause obviously Marcus was a quarterback there as well. Obviously. Cause I was kind of a part time starter in the beginning of my rookie year. Obviously Castle was slinging dimes for the scout team, practice squad, whatever it may be. Obviously wasn't practice squad. But for me, I was still young and I kind of was just looking at Castle like. Yeah, I remember Castle, you know, was playing for the Patriots and obviously went to Kansas City and played for different teams. So I was almost kind of looking up to him. So I was kind of nervous. And then you'll kind of see him around the facility with his family. He had his four children, his wife and stuff like that. So it was. And I was still like a young Knucklehead a little bit. Obviously I had a girlfriend, so. But we did have a relationship, but still it was kind of like that separation from the younger guys. You got divested, married, have children. You want to get like that. And so if I did have conversations, it was probably ask him something about his life or something like that. So yeah, we did have a relationship.

Matt Castle (2:50)

I do remember that he put a dent in our relationship early on because he's on the defensive side of the ball. And so we're running through seven on seven. If you throw one interception in seven seven, it's usually a bad day. Kevin, in one period during this particular TR camp practice, picked me off three times. And I was like, oh my God, this rookie just jumped in front of three ball. Do you remember that day?

Kevin Byard (3:16)

I don't remember that day.

Matt Castle (3:17)

You got Marcus Mariota. Well, yeah, he probably had bigger fish to fry, you know, down the road in real games. But I mean, I just want to build your confidence, but you hurt my confidence that day. And I've got Marcus Mariota, Alex Tanny in the background and they're giggling because they're just like, what just happened? And I was like, I know, I have no idea, like. And that was one of my first times. I'm sitting there going, okay, this guy's gonna be that.

Kevin Byard (3:39)

Rookie year flies by. It's so many different memories, so many different points. I. It's funny, I actually don't remember that practice three years after.

Matt Castle (3:45)

No, I didn't then. I didn't throw you any.

Kevin Byard (3:47)

You probably shouldn't even brought that up because I didn't remember it.

Matt Castle (3:50)

That was the start of your destiny.

Kevin Byard (3:52)

Yeah.

Bobby Bones (3:53)

Whenever you come in as a rookie, does the season seem so long because it's so many more games?

Kevin Byard (3:58)

Yes. And the reason being is because like when you're, you're underclass and you're about to declare for the draft or you're a senior. I had a bowl game. I think my bowl game was like late December or something like that. You probably get maybe a week or two off your agent. You sign with an agent and you're immediately getting shipped off the pre draft training. So I'm basically going from January training. Then you got your pro days, combines and visits. Then you literally sign or drafted. I was drafted in May. You're basically going from January to January. All football, all gas, no breaks. So that rookie year is like. And I tell all the guys, it's like, you know, everybody talk about the rookie wall and when you're playing and starting, it's not as bad as some guys that may not be maybe just relegated special teams. Whatever it may be, it's a real thing. So by the time you get to, like, October, November, and most guys in college football, you're 12, 13 games, you get to like, week 13, you're like, there's no way we're still playing football. And then for, like, if you come events, like, that's really when the season's just starting. So, yeah, it gets long as a rookie, for sure.

Matt Castle (5:00)

Talk about that journey that you had. You went to Middle Tennessee State. You obviously were a standout there. You're in their hall of Fame, but you were not invited to the combine. So talk about that mentality of not being invited to the combine. Did you just do your pro day? Did you have the workout at the Titans? How did it all work? And how did you come on their radar?

Kevin Byard (5:20)

It was a crazy thing. So I had got invited to the Re C Senior bowl out of college, I have to say. Had a decorated college career. And I'm just knowing, like, you have on anticipation. Okay, you get the recent Senior bowl votes. Like, you know the combine is coming, but at the time, like, it wasn't. I ain't got the invite yet, so I'm thinking, like, eventually it's gonna show up, go down to the Reed Senior bowl, have a good time, and obviously balled out. And I remember, you know, you know, we're having conversations in the locker room and guys like, yeah, man, you know, I'm gonna see you later. I'm gonna see you at the combine. And I'm just thinking in my head, like, I still don't have an invite. What is going on? And so I'm super. I was upset. I'm not even gon. I was literally about to fire my agent and all type of stuff. Cause I was just. I'm thinking it was his fault. Like, he's the reason why I didn't get an invite. So, no, I didn't get an invite. I just kept training. And then I went to. Did the pro day at middle, and I had a really good pro day. It's funny. I had the Titans was there. They had a coach, the Lions, a couple other teams. And I remember we did after the pro day, did like a little interview, and we was kind of getting on the board and stuff, and it was like, yeah, write your favorite defense. Just write it down. And I had rode, like, all 11 guys on the defense, The D lineman, the stunt. I was blissing hair, da da, da da. And it was like, oh, the meeting's done. We're good to go, we're good to go. And so I ended up taking like 12 to like 12 or 13 visits within like a two week period before the draft, which was crazy. And you know, you go on these visits. Cause they wanted to get the physical. Cause I didn't do the Indianapolis combine stuff. And they're whining and dying. Well, not whining, but steaks. You know, you're eating all, you know, eating. They're like, yeah, order whatever you want. Cause it's all free. It's on the team's budget. So probably a week or two before the draft, I'm on my last visit in Miami and I'll never forget I was, you know, you kind of. I'm sitting in the lounge waiting to meet with a coach or whatever, and my agent called me. He's like, hey, you know, Tennessee wants to work you out. And I'm just like, listen, bro, I've been on the road for about the last two weeks. I've been eating steak. Like, I'm really not in the mood. Like, I don't think I should. I really don't want to do it. You know, if they haven't seen the pro day or the film, like, I think, you know, it's over with. And he was like, I basically told him to cancel the ME and he was like, okay, you know, I'll talk to him and tell him. And so I remember he called me back probably like 20 minutes later, he said, hey, so, you know, I told him what you said, but you know, I mean, the general manager, John Robinson was going to be there. Dick LeBeau, who was the defensive coordinator there, was going to be there. Deshay Townsend, the DB coach, the head coach, Mike Malarkey, is going to be there. I think you should do this workout.

Matt Castle (7:45)

You know what I mean?

Kevin Byard (7:45)

So I was like, all right, well, just please, just don't tell him. Don't kill me. You know what I mean? We'll get on the film and just do a little bit of drills. And they worked me out for like an hour and a half. It was crazy. But it was a blessing because I think that workout was the reason why I got drafted to the Titans. And it was one of those deals where, like I said, I really didn't want to do it, but, you know, it all worked out for the best.

Bobby Bones (8:06)

It's crazy that you didn't get an invite. Then you were drafted in the third round because, like, that's a very valuable round. First, second Third, fourth round. Like those are like the upper tier rounds.

Kevin Byard (8:17)

Absolutely.

Bobby Bones (8:17)

Like you can't get an invite, but then you still get drafted in the third round. Like I've not heard that juxtaposition of no, we don't think you're good enough to come to this, but we're still going to draft you so high.

Kevin Byard (8:26)

Right.

Bobby Bones (8:26)

And do you think a bit of that is because the Titans were close? They were able to come to your pro day and then ask you to work out. Do you think proximity had anything to do with them discovering that you were actually legit?

Kevin Byard (8:35)

Honestly, I'm not even sure. I really don't. I know remember talking to John. John said that he had been doing research on me since like my sophomore junior year talking to people on campus. But I have no clue. Like I've gotten to this point in my life where like when stuff like that that I don't like even talking to you or Matt. Like you don't really have an explanation for. I just point to God. It's just all God in my opinion because it's like I have no clue why I didn't get invited to the combine. Like I had had the most interceptions in college. I had like 19 interceptions. It was like a record at the time. You know, I had great stats. So like, you know, it's still, honestly, still to this day I don't have an answer.

Bobby Bones (9:10)

You know what I mean?

Kevin Byard (9:11)

I didn't even get an answer.

Bobby Bones (9:12)

Yeah, I'm shocking.

Kevin Byard (9:12)

NFL's never told me anything why I didn't get invited. I had no clue.

Bobby Bones (9:15)

It's such a weird thing to be draf.

Kevin Byard (9:17)

Right?

Matt Castle (9:18)

Right.

Bobby Bones (9:18)

But also. So I have a conspiracy theory that a team like the Titans kept you out because they knew what they had kept a secret.

Matt Castle (9:23)

Don't invite you.

Bobby Bones (9:24)

Seriously. Might have been they will do that. They'll talk players up and down. Agents do that all the time. But imagine conspiracy mind here the Titans were kept you out because they knew what they had. If they could keep other people from seeing you, they could get you high.

Kevin Byard (9:37)

That's a great theory. And I also had the theory of. So you know, a lot of times for the combine, some guys, you'll see some guys at the combine and you look at their college stats and they're really not that good. So sometimes they invite these guys to the comb cause they wanna get around them. And I was thinking, well they already knew I was good. So they said hey, you can just sit out. We'll get some of these other guys that maybe not be Very well known. So I don't know, I just try to. I've been trying to piece this together for the longest and eventually I just kind of let it go. I've been very over my career, even in high school. I've been very, like, under the radar. Not really, I feel like not really rated where I probably should be.

Bobby Bones (10:09)

What was your star rating?

Kevin Byard (10:11)

I was a two star prospect.

Bobby Bones (10:12)

You gotta be kidding me, man.

Kevin Byard (10:13)

It's crazy, right? And I was like an all state.

Bobby Bones (10:15)

The Titans did that too. The Titans kept you in a two star.

Matt Castle (10:18)

They were on it early. Keep this kid under wr. She keeps progressing.

Kevin Byard (10:22)

I had like a scholarship offer from University of Kentucky. They pulled it for a guy that was like committed to Alabama and he decommitted. It was like I've had a bunch of different phases. So I just, you know, I guess my senior year.

Bobby Bones (10:35)

You played all the positions though, in high school, did you play like quarterback and wide receiver? Did you ever.

Kevin Byard (10:39)

That's true. I literally played everything my senior year. I was playing like ironman football. I literally started on offense and then went straight. I literally didn't get a break. I don't think I did like field goal block or something like that.

Matt Castle (10:52)

I thought about putting you on special teams. When you first got the Tennessee Titans. You mentioned Dick LeBeau. Legendary coach, hall of Famer, just an incredible person, but one of the best defensive minds to ever coach our game. Talk to me about the influence he had on you as a young player.

Kevin Byard (11:07)

Big influence. So growing up, I didn't really get into NFL football probably until maybe 13, 14 years old. It was just kind of, you know, you go in the neighborhood, play football, everybody wanted to be Mike Vick, especially in my neighborhood. But really just getting into the sport, my whole family, obviously I grew up in Philadelphia, all Eagles fans. I went completely against the grain. I was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. So I grew up on like Troy Palomalu, Dick LeBeau, those legendary Pittsburgh defense defenses. And so obviously I knew all about Dick LeBeau. I had no clue Dick LeBeau was the defensive coordinator in Tennessee until like I did that workout and stuff like that. So I'm starstruck and it's me and like seeing Dick LeBeau right there and we're talking about defenses and all his fire zone blitz and stuff. I'm just completely blown away. Dick LeBeau. And I really wish that I had him longer in my career. I only had him my first two years. He's a true legend. And most people don't know this, but I'm Pretty sure people that play for him. Dick LeBeau is the only coach that doesn't use a play call sheet. I don't know if you notice or not. So Dick lebow, we be in the games and he would legit be staring, get a feel for things. And we had a linebacker coach. He would literally whisper to the linebacker coach what play to give the linebacker. You know, most coaches you see in games, Andy Reid has this big clipboard, different pages and stuff like that. Dig. LeBeau had nothing that was on his head. He memorized every defense that he's probably ever done all in his head. And he would just call it, like, live. It was the most amazing thing ever. Like, he's a legend. He used to have these stories in our meetings. And Bog, you know, most people know this, but Dick LeBeau is a defensive coordinator. He's a hall of fame defensive coordinator, but he's also a hall of fame player. He played cornerback in Detroit in all those days. And he would talk about his Motown days. He got some stories. He got some stories about being back at Motown. So, no, he's a legend, man. One of my favorite coaches, he said he's hit like nine hole in ones. I honestly, that's like Kim Jong Il type stuff.

Bobby Bones (13:00)

Nine hole in ones.

Kevin Byard (13:02)

He loves golf. He could play the guitar. He's a good musician.

Matt Castle (13:05)

How about his Night Before Christmas, which is legendary.

Kevin Byard (13:07)

Oh, yes.

Bobby Bones (13:08)

What's that? Tell me. I don't know that.

Matt Castle (13:09)

So it's a legendary thing that goes around from the guys back in Pittsburgh. And then when he came to Tennessee, he does. He used to for his grandmother who raised him. And I think. Was it his mom as well or all the women and family.

Kevin Byard (13:25)

Yeah.

Matt Castle (13:26)

That were in around Christmas time. He did his own version of the Night Before Christmas. That was his gift to them. And he memorized it and adds his own flair. And then he tells the Night Before Christmas and he did it for us. I think we were in Jacksonville and you've heard about this legend for a long time.

Bobby Bones (13:45)

He tells a story like that.

Matt Castle (13:46)

Yeah, it was.

Kevin Byard (13:47)

He knows the whole story.

Matt Castle (13:48)

Before Christmas.

Kevin Byard (13:49)

Twas.

Bobby Bones (13:49)

Does he have a photographic memory?

Kevin Byard (13:51)

He must have, because it feels like

Bobby Bones (13:52)

between that and knowing all the stuff,

Matt Castle (13:54)

he has a brilliant mind.

Kevin Byard (13:55)

He's incredible. I truly like. It was just like this running joke on the team, especially on defense, that Dig LeBeau literally left the facility. Like on some Batman stuff, he would just be saving the night. He was like a superhero at nighttime or something like. No, for real.

Bobby Bones (14:07)

He was vigilante LeBeau out like he

Kevin Byard (14:09)

was practiced is like every morning. Like he would jog around the facility, like jog around the practice, but he'll do push ups. I mean at this time he's like in his 70s, 70s, and then as

Matt Castle (14:17)

soon as he's done with the football field, he's going to go try to get nine holes in for real. Like that was him and his storytelling. The capacity for him to remember stories that seem to convey those stories in such a riveting way as players were sitting there just amazed. Just tell us more.

Bobby Bones (14:35)

Even as young men, even as 23, 24 year old young men, they're still a 70 year old and you're still in like you're not.

Kevin Byard (14:39)

He's, it's a legend. Like you said, it's like stuff of legend. Like when he walked around, he just had this certain presence. And like I said, I was 23 at the time. And like I said, we'd be in the middle of defensive meetings and we'd be talking about a certain play call. He'd say, I just remember this story. And he would literally forget about the whole we legit forget about football. He'd just tell his whole meeting about, I mean whole story about being back in the 60s or 70s and then we'll get back to football. But he was a legend, one of the best coaches.

Bobby Bones (15:03)

Is that a guy you liked playing for as a guy, like you would go hard for him?

Kevin Byard (15:07)

Oh, absolutely. Cause I think he was so relational too. Like he was, I think he really, truly cared about the players. Cause like I said, obviously this guy invented fire zones. He invented like certain defenses.

Matt Castle (15:20)

It was the worst to go up against.

Kevin Byard (15:22)

He was the truth when it comes to like setting up blitzes, getting guys free. So the football stuff was easy, but I just think just like him as a person and just the kind of like wisdom and knowledge that he had is a guy that you truly wanted to play for. I mean the guy didn't have a play call sheet. I mean it's incredible. Like he was an awesome guy.

Bobby Bones (15:37)

I have a niece and she's about to go to college and I tell her, hey, don't go to college near where you live right now because you want a whole new list of experiences.

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Bobby Bones (16:34)

Now, obviously, you didn't go to college near where you came from. You came from Philadelphia. But did you want to go play pro ball right next door to where you play college ball?

Kevin Byard (16:41)

I don't know if that's necessarily what I wanted to do.

Matt Castle (16:44)

It's a nicer neighborhood here.

Kevin Byard (16:46)

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I joke that I could have kept my college apartment from Murfreesboro and just drove back and forth.

Matt Castle (16:51)

You thought about it too?

Kevin Byard (16:52)

It was like $500, bro. It's like, I definitely could have did that, but I don't know. I think it was. I think it was like I said, I would say it's a blessing. I think it was absolutely cool because especially being from a smaller school, I think my internal fan base that I had built in college just transferred right to Nashville. So I think it almost made me like a household name before I really even did anything. I think that was awesome. But I will say I definitely liked being in Nashville over probably like a Miami or any of these super bigger cities. Because obviously when I got drafted, I had been with my high school sweetheart. She moved in town with me. And I just felt like it was when I got drafted in Nashville, we had a great culture core of guys like, say, Mac was married. We had Brian, Arachpo, Jarrell. We had a bunch of older vets that was doing it the right way, showing us the right way. And I think that's really a reason why we were so successful. Cause I felt like we were just all focused on ball. Guys were about family. We wasn't like, hey, Friday night, let's go out to the club and stay out till two in the morning. And then Saturday, walk through drunk. You know what I mean? It was really like a family culture vibe. And I think for me as a person, just my maturation, I think that was the. I think it all worked out perfectly.

Matt Castle (18:04)

I mean, you led the league in interceptions that second year, which was amazing to think how quickly you came to the top of your position group. But then Mike Vrabel comes in and you obviously are going to be playing for Mike again. Talk to me about what he brings to the table as a coach, as a teacher, and what inspired you to go to the New England Patriots.

Kevin Byard (18:26)

I remember, obviously, Vrabel was in Houston at the time, defense coordinator and when they hired him, I was immediately. Obviously, I was a fan of Vrabel growing up, seeing him in New England, balling out Pro Bowls, Super Bowls and things like that. So I'm thinking, okay, we got a proven guy. You know what I mean? So I didn't know. I didn't really think too much of it, though. I'm not like, okay, we'll see how it goes. Cause Mike Malarkey, I think he was more laid back. The staff we had, obviously, LeBeau, we had a fairly older staff. You know what I mean? Things were kind of laid back. And I'll never forget this. Our first meeting, our first day of, like, practice, OTAs or whatever. We're kind of doing, like, jog through, run the ball. Derrick Henry up the left side. And the first play, Variable ripped Taylor Lawan. And it was, like I said, normal jog through. And I think at the time, like, Taylor Juwan, like, we didn't notice, but we kind of anticipated. But he was obviously trying to get a new contract. It was the year he got his new contract. And I think he purposely just ripped into him to let everybody know, like, I don't care who you are. Cause Taylor Juwan was one of the best left tackles in the league, if not the best at the time. Just ripped him. And I'm just like, whoa. Everybody kind of just sat up in the meeting, like, this is how it's gonna be. You know what I mean? So. But no, Variable is obviously having the success that I've had with him over the years. He's one of the best coaches. If not, he's actually the best coach I've ever had. Reason being just how detailed he is, how intentional he is, but then also how much relational he is with the players. I mean, and Matt, obviously, you know, Variable, like, and he's like a player's coach. Like, he's a guy. He doesn't. Like, he doesn't feel like he's above you or nothing like that. Like, he literally gets to know your family. When you see him in the hallway, he's gonna ask you how you're doing. But he's not just gonna be like, hey, how you doing? Just keep moving. Like, he's gonna ask you, how you doing? How's your family? How's your children? Da, da, da, da. He's definitely one of the best coaches, and he has a big influence on me. I became incredible, a lot smarter player, just by being around him. Not, obviously, you could just be in his means. Like, and he had a joke about this too, I know he's gon. We get to New England that I can basically run the meetings how he was going to run. He's going to KB what I'm going to say, da da da, da da. And no, he's a phenomenal guy. Phenomenal coach.

Bobby Bones (20:35)

That feels like a rare dynamic of. Because you describe him as a player's coach, but as hardcore as he is at the same time, because you hear about coaches that aren't players coaches and they are on you. And then players coaches, for the most part, are like one of the dudes. It feels like Vrabel has the best qualities of both that as a players coach because he relates, he played. He also cares, but he'll also snatch a knot in you for sure.

Kevin Byard (20:58)

I mean, I think. Cause he was. You know, they say he was like this in New England, you know what I mean? Like, he would do all this stuff, like he was one of those guys. So he's gonna be the same way as a coach, you know what I mean? He's gonna be the loudest voice at practice. He's gonna be talking all day, but he's gonna get in the drills with you. He's not just gonna tell you what, dude. Hey, he's gonna. You know, everybody's seen the pro day stuff, putting the pads on and stuff like that. He's incredible. He's an incredible teacher. But like you said, I think he's gonna be very intense during practice, but then off the field, like you said, he understands what a player, his psyche, you know what I mean? He understands that guys want to take care of their family. He understands that guys want to go to pro bowls and things like that. He understands that some of the guys are just trying to make the team. So he just understands everybody's situation because he's been in it. You know what I mean? So I think that gives you an automatic level of certain credibility because you've been through this. You've sat in the seats that I've sat at. So you're easily able to buy into what he's selling because like I said, he's been there.

Matt Castle (21:53)

And I think he coaches with intentionality, right? Because there's coaches that get after you and rip you, but don't really coach, you know, and you can take constructive criticism, but just straight criticism, attack a kid's character or a player's character, get after him. But when you do it with a purpose, because you're showing them, hey, I got after you because I need you to do this. X, Y, And z now it makes sense to us as players and we can grasp that and want to play for somebody like that. Whereas if you just are dogging me out for no reason and you constantly are grinding on me, then it becomes this conflict and it usually doesn't work out really well.

Kevin Byard (22:29)

Not at all. I think you hit the nail on the head. I don't know if I said it

Matt Castle (22:34)

right, but you nailed it.

Kevin Byard (22:35)

You nailed it.

Matt Castle (22:36)

You nailed it. Hit the nail on the head. No.

Kevin Byard (22:38)

100%.

Bobby Bones (22:38)

You got em both at the same time.

Kevin Byard (22:40)

No, but I think as a coach and I think the best coaches are like this. The best coaches connect with the players first, I think. Cause especially in you can say this generation, whatever generation a player, if I know that you care about me as a person, then now you're able to kind of motivate me or inspire me or get on me in a certain way, that if you're just all transactional, you know what I mean? You're just gonna be ripping me. It's like this guy don't care about me. He don't even know anything about my family. Like, man, forget him. I'm gonna do it my way. Versus if a coach really knows and kind of understands a player, like, man, this guy may have some stuff going on at home or you know, obviously he's motivated, he wants to be this type of player. If you're gonna. If I can get to know you. Let's say for example, Matt Castle's trying to be a Pro bowl hall of Fame quarterback. He's trying to be this. When I can push him to that level now. But if you don't really get to know a player, understand what makes him tick or how he goes, then how can you don't really know him. You could just be ripped into a guy. Some guys don't respond well to that. You know what I mean? So. So I think that's one thing that he does a great job of.

Bobby Bones (23:40)

When you're making your decision on where to play next, we can even talk about the Patriots. How important is the head coach?

Kevin Byard (23:46)

It's huge, I think for me, and I say every guy is in a different phase in their career. When you're younger, you're probably just in the highest bidder. I'm going to the highest bidder, trying to get paid for me, especially in this stage of my career. I'm going to year 11. Which still sounds crazy to say you're

Matt Castle (24:02)

the old buck now.

Kevin Byard (24:03)

Yeah, I know. I've been unk OG for like the last Three years, which is crazy.

Matt Castle (24:07)

It happens overnight, too.

Kevin Byard (24:08)

It happens fast, bro. No, it's. For me, I wanted to go to a contender first and foremost. And, you know, I have. Obviously, I've kept in contact with Rabo over the years. Ever since I left Tennessee, we've had a great relationship. So, honestly, once I kind of understood that, hey, Chicago, it might not work out. Honestly, it was really two teams. It was Chicago and New England. And obviously, I didn't know that. I'm not just sitting here and say, like, I already had Vrabo on the other line or something like that. It was legit. Like, you kind of did. Yeah.

Matt Castle (24:35)

Or your agent did. Slick.

Kevin Byard (24:37)

Obviously, I had his contact on my phone, but, no, I've been telling myself throughout the whole season. Obviously, I wasn't telling a lot of people, but I'm like, if it doesn't work out in Chicago, I would take less to go to New England. Just based on relationship I got with Variable, obviously, I knew he's a hell of a ball coach, and I had knew. I was telling guys like this before the season in Chicago. Like, y' all watch New England, and I'm not gonna sit here and say they're gonna go over to the super bowl, but he's gonna turn it around quick, fast, in a hurry. Cause I know what kind of coach he is. So that was kind of like, already in my mind, like, if it's not Chicago, I wanna go play for Variable.

Matt Castle (25:09)

And talk about that season that you had last year with Chicago. What an incredible turnaround you guys had, and being a part of that, obviously, new coaching staff. You've got a lot of young talent on that team, but your leadership role, really on that team, because it was pivotal and it showed through in big games throughout the course of the year. But talk about that season that you had. Cause it was remarkable, bro.

Kevin Byard (25:30)

It was so fun. And I've said this before, but this was probably one of the most funnest seasons I've ever had playing football. Reason being, you know, playing in Tennessee, we had so much fun. We had so much camaraderie. We had so many great seasons. But Tennessee, I want to say the Titans, is probably the. Out of 32 teams, the 29th or 28th smallest market in the NFL, Chicago was like, number three. So this is my first time really playing and, like, having success in a big market. I mean, you know, I was. I can brag about it a little bit, but it was pretty crazy. I was top five in Pro bowl votes this year. Like, overall players like it was like Caleb Williams, Pat Mahomes, Josh Allen, myself and Travis Kelce. Come on. I'm a great player. But to be up there with those certain names was like, that lets you know how much Chicago comes out for their fans and stuff like that. So it was so much fun. Cause the previous year, 2024, we didn't have a great year. We went 5 and 12. We had a lot of games we were in. But it's like, you know how in NFL it all comes down to the last drive and we lost so many one score games because of those things. And it was just like we lost 10 straight games. I've never lost 10 games straight in my life. I don't think I lost more than 10 games. But that was a crazy year. And so the next year, Caleb's second year, they bring in Ben Johnson. We have the hardest training camp I've ever had in year 10, which was insane. But to see that we started a year out 02 and then we rip off like seven straight wins or something like that. We had so much fun. It was the guys, it was the camaraderie, but just the success that we was having on defense. We're getting picked, turnovers, all that good stuff. But then the city, the way the city just like it's always behind the team. And they had been telling me this when I first got there, like, listen, if you win here in Chicago, you're like, you don't have to pay for a meal ever again in this city. I mean, they still talk about 85 bears up there. Like they're literally legends. Like they don't have to pay for anything. So it was just a fun time to be in a big city and to win like that and you know, go to the playoffs and it was fun. I mean, like outside of 2021, the year we was number one seed here in Tennessee, that was the fun I've had playing football. It was awesome, man.

Bobby Bones (27:41)

It's always cold though for you. Like why are you playing in cold places like that? That does not sound appealing.

Kevin Byard (27:46)

It's not. I'm gonna keep it real. It was brutal this year. We played a game at home against Cleveland and I think the temperature before that game was probably like it was somewhere around zero. I don't know if it was like negative one one degrees, it was around that number. But the wind chill was like negative 11. And no BS like I remember cause the hotel we stayed at, we had like, you gotta valet your car or whatever and. But I don't know why? They got our keys outside, like the little valet deal. My key was frozen. I couldn't open like it took me like 30 minutes. I'm standing there trying to open it and I'm freezing. I'm trying to open my car, but my car key was frozen. It was so cold.

Matt Castle (28:26)

Are you a no sleeve guy in cold weather?

Kevin Byard (28:28)

I am.

Matt Castle (28:29)

See, I understand that they make all this technology now, but see, I think

Kevin Byard (28:33)

it's worse when you wear sleeve because now you start to sweat, now you get shorter, shirt is wet and now it's.

Matt Castle (28:38)

I'm doubling up.

Bobby Bones (28:39)

But I guess you played high school quarterback too.

Kevin Byard (28:41)

I think it's a little different. You're not running around as mother a

Matt Castle (28:44)

wetsuit underneath the long sleeve just because I.

Kevin Byard (28:46)

So that's what I do. I do the wet suit helps. Yeah, I do the wetsuit.

Bobby Bones (28:50)

Here's the difference in you two, though. Well, aside from athletic ability and good looks, true statement is that you played high school ball and grew up in Southern California. True warm. You actually played in Pennsylvania. So you, I guess a little bit your blood. I'm not saying anybody's blood's good for Chicago, but I'm saying like you played in cold. It's not to you. It's not foreign.

Kevin Byard (29:09)

Yeah. But I also say this too. Like, even if, like if you lived in, let's say you lived in Alaska your whole life or something and then you moved to Florida for two, three years, that's gone. Like the whole Alaska deal is gone. Like you've gotten completely adapted to the warm weather. It's so funny because, you know, we try to talk about different teams, like how the weather on the felt like guys in Florida and California hate cold weather games. They hate being in the cold. Chicago is one of the coldest cities I've ever played in. Obviously Kansas City is freezing too. I know you played in Kansas City. It's super cold.

Matt Castle (29:39)

But the wind in Chicago too, it's

Kevin Byard (29:41)

nonstop coming off Lake Michigan. That's the biggest difference.

Bobby Bones (29:44)

Even in April, like I'll go to Cubs games. It would cut me.

Matt Castle (29:47)

Yeah.

Kevin Byard (29:48)

When I got back there in April last year for like the start of all season, it was snowing the first day. I'm like, what is going on here?

Matt Castle (29:55)

And it never leaves the ground.

Kevin Byard (29:57)

And I will say that Chicago is probably the best summer city in the country. One of the best because of the fact that, that it could be 85, 90 degrees, but that breeze constantly feels so good. So like I said, I think but the summer season is like two months, two And a half months. It's so small. But that wind is serious. Cause the wind blows every day, all day, no matter where you at. It's crazy.

Bobby Bones (30:19)

How'd you like the Bears uniform on you the first time? That's a pretty sweet uniform.

Matt Castle (30:23)

It is cool and it's legendary.

Bobby Bones (30:24)

Yeah, that's on it.

Matt Castle (30:25)

It's more of a classic emblems now.

Kevin Byard (30:28)

You almost wish they had a little more variety. Cause they're very, like, old school. Like our equipment manager, T Maz, my guy. They don't let you swag out anything. Nothing. It's white pants, blue jerseys. You better have the stripes. You know, guys try to get around some of that stuff where, like the socks, those stripes better be showing. And then, like, they had, like. I think they got like a couple throwbacks, but that's really it. And then away games, it's blue pants, white jersey jerseys, stripes.

Matt Castle (30:56)

About as traditional as you get.

Kevin Byard (30:58)

As traditional as you get.

Bobby Bones (30:59)

Have you put on the Patriots uniform yet? Fully?

Kevin Byard (31:01)

I have not. I have not.

Matt Castle (31:03)

That's enough.

Kevin Byard (31:03)

Looking forward to that. Yeah, I put on castles. They're sweet.

Bobby Bones (31:06)

Yeah, I put on castles every Thursday.

Kevin Byard (31:08)

How big was it?

Matt Castle (31:09)

He let me borrow his sweaters.

Bobby Bones (31:10)

Yeah. Yeah, we just, like, switch out.

Kevin Byard (31:12)

I have to see that picture. That sounds hilarious.

Matt Castle (31:31)

Let's talk about the mentality of your preparation. Right. Because you come in the league, obviously you got vets and stuff, but in terms of how you watch film and what you do mentally to prepare yourself week in and week out, and also how offenses have evolved since you came into the league, particularly with a lot of these quarterbacks. You see, they're multifaceted, they're dual threat. But just talk to me about what goes into your week of preparation, how you approach each and every week.

Kevin Byard (31:58)

Yeah. So early in my career, I think I was kind of, I would say, a little bit ahead of the curve. A little bit. Cause in college, I watched a lot of film. Like, I had. I kind of had a. I had a routine. So, like, you know how the weeks are. Wednesday, first and second down, Thursday, third down, Friday, red zone. So I kind of had that a little bit already in college. So that's kind of what I would do. Just. Just watch whatever cutups the coaches made. But still, then when you're young, you don't really know what. You're just kind of just watching. And so at the time, I would just watch for, like, you know, if you're playing certain guys, like, if it was a good title, let's say Travis Kelce. I'm Just watching Travis Kelce, stuff like that. As I've gotten older now, I think I watch more for like the scheme. Like I want to know who's the coordinator, you know what I mean? Like, okay, who's the coordinator? Okay, Now I kind of know how he wants to attack this defense based upon what we do. So I kind of just take it to that next level. So now I'm more anticipating. Okay, these are probably the play calls they're going to run against us because we run this type of defense and stuff like that. So still routine as far as the days. I'm preparing for the next day. Previously the night before, watching those things, but now I'm more watching based upon scheme, the coaches, and obviously still studying the players, the personnel and things like that. But I kind of have more of a bigger picture mentality now just based upon the team that we could be playing or the coach. Because that makes a huge difference, like studying for like a Kyle Shanahan. And I say this to this day, he's the toughest coordinator or coach that you can prepare for because his scheme changes week to week. And it also gives you so many different looks, motions, shifts. And I truly believe this, that Kyle Shanahan knows what your rules are on defense. So if my rules is watching too, and if he does this, does this, he's going to put you on confidence every single time. So you basically gotta be perfect. And if you're not, oop, there goes the ball over your head. So, yeah, I'm kind of a big picture guy versus then just zoning in on this one guy, you know, like a cornerback. If it's Jalen Ramsey or whatever it may be, he's probably just gonna watch this receiver. Cause I'm covering him all game. I'm kind of watching for the big picture of everything. And as the weeks goes on or the days goes on throughout the week, then maybe I can watch some small stuff. Like, hey, looking at this offensive line right here, his first foot, if it's far back, it's probably pass. If it's more squared, it's run. So it just depends on week to week.

Matt Castle (34:17)

Is it formational alignment and then how much of it is recognizing route combinations that you like. Okay, from this formation, they like to do this, or their run scheme is going to be wide zone, they're going to run the counter off that. But it's formationally based. Is that how you're looking at a lot of these things?

Kevin Byard (34:35)

Yeah, a lot of it is formation based, you know, but. But throughout the week Also you're going to have the coaches are going to have these different speeches and packages talking about oh, the top three runs is going to be this. Top three passes. Da da. First and second down. First and down kind of is what it is. You kind of understand what personnel they like to use, how they like to use these guys. Like for example, most teams are going to carry two or three tight ends to a game. One tight end isn't going to block, the other tight end is going to be a blocker. So if they got both of those guys separate, if they're going to run the ball, they're probably going to run to this guy. They're not going to run to him like for Travis Kelce, whatever. They gonna give Travis Kelce out the way. They got another tight end, he's the blocker. So yeah, I kind of understand that. Third down is when I'm really more focusing in on, okay, where are they putting this one guy? First of all, he's getting all the third down targets. Let's find him every third down. Cause more than likely the ball's going to him. So I kind of watched that. But then also a lot of scheme stuff. Like for example, I had two interceptions this past year against the Raiders Geno Smith. Early in the week we knew on third downs they love running these 12 to 15 yard end breakers digs. But it was primarily to Jacob Myers, number 16. And they were getting these bunch formations every time and so we put in specific defense. Basically I was going to be kind of like the middle of the field robber type deal. So obviously you know, you get in the practice reps. So we get in the game, I see the formation and I see 16s in there and I'm literally the whole time okay, I can trust that I got a guy backside that's gonna protect me If I see 16. As soon as he stick his foot in the ground, I am gone. And I literally picked the ball. I literally almost overran the play. Like I had to spin around and catch the ball behind me cause I had broke so fast. But it was just off of film study understanding. Then they ran the same thing like two drives after and I caught another interception. But yeah, so I think just being getting a little older now, just being able to have the iq, anticipating stuff a lot more versus then when you're young, you're just kind of. I'm just gonna run full speed everywhere around the field, try to go hit somebody and knock somebody out. Now it's more, everything's more calculated versus Than just, you know, running around like a chicken with your hair cut off.

Bobby Bones (36:36)

You feel like most of your interceptions through your career have been pre snap. More so than during play. Uh, like, you know, and you're gonna be there or has it been mostly instinctual? Like during the play you make an adjustment.

Kevin Byard (36:49)

It's a mix. I definitely say it's a mix of it. Cause even this past year I had a couple those two or three of those. But then I have some where I just showed incredible range and just ran and got the ball like a quarterback was scrambling, didn't see me backside threw the ball cause he thought he had his guy wide open. I was able to chase the ball down. So it's definitely a good mix. I think obviously when you play safety tips overthrows, you're gonna make at least two of those. Yeah, gotta get those, gotta get tips. So you're gonna get at least two or three of those a year.

Matt Castle (37:18)

But you still gotta catch it. Not all the safeties can catch.

Kevin Byard (37:21)

That is true. Because most guys gonna drop to it. Most safeties will actually have like three or four interceptions every year if they didn't drop them all. But yeah, so it's kind of a mix of both, I would say for sure is there.

Bobby Bones (37:31)

And both of you guys can answer this question A few years ago, and I've done it almost every year since. I will hire someone to pick apart what I'm doing, like on my national radio show, like find my weaknesses. Like I'm gonna pay you to come and find my weaknesses. When I was considered running for office, I hired two different people to go and investigate me do two. I had somebody that I hired that I told was me and I h that didn't know it was me to see if they would present two different scenarios to me. So I like try to beat myself so I can fix the holes. When you're talking about you're breaking down tape. Is there somebody in these staffs that are trying to beat their own team so they can report back what the other teams are doing and if not, why not?

Matt Castle (38:10)

You know, I think a lot of times you had the advanced scouting department and they put together schematically, hey, this is this coordinator. This is what they like to do. So they really kind of set the platform for or the foundation for what you're going to go into. And they start to give you an illustration. Because from one week to the next, you got to concentrate just on that team. Because every single week, especially if you're a game playing defense, offense, you're trying to beat what they're doing. You can't just run the same fundamental plays. Now you might have like a certain scheme defensively, offensively, that works for every,

Kevin Byard (38:46)

against every type of defense, packages and stuff.

Matt Castle (38:48)

Right. But every team has wrinkles, blitzes, overloads. Some are three, four defensive, which means three defensive linemen, four down, four linebackers, some people are four down. So it's constantly evolving. You don't have enough time to jump ahead. But those guys in the advanced scouting department and some of the young staff members, a lot of time are putting the pieces together as you're moving forward in the season.

Kevin Byard (39:10)

Especially when you get to a bye week, like a bye week, you do a lot of like self scout on yourself and try to change up. It's funny you say that because I think in the league number one, you got enough people and so many people reporting on the game and just read if it's podcast, you got news shows, radio, especially big on radio. When you were saying you would hire somebody to kind of see what your weaknesses are to try to beat yourself. You're gonna have enough of that, trust me.

Matt Castle (39:35)

They're all gonna tell you they got weaknesses.

Kevin Byard (39:36)

Yeah, when you have a good game, they gonna let you know. When you have a bad game, they'll let you know even more. So I think we all kind of, I mean, for some, I mean me, I'm a more realistic player. Like I know what my weaknesses are. And so I think as a great player, they do the best to not hide your weaknesses, but you stray more towards your strengths and you try to hide more your weakness. And that's what you work on in the off season. But then also too, you know, obviously first day of the week was probably Wednesday. That morning, like especially on defense, we will put out a whole personnel sheet and the defensive coordinator is going to go through a whole scout report on everybody. They're going to say the strength of their team is the offensive line. This left tackle, he's strong, he's fast, he may be a little light. So you can probably bull doo doo doo doo. This receiver, he doesn't really have great hands, but he's fast. So you're going to kind of know the strengths and weaknesses of everybody. So based upon that, you know for a fact that they got a scout report on you as well. Now, I'm not the guy that really wants to know my scout report like that during the season because there's a lot of egos involved. You kind of want to feel good about yourself. You don't want to be hearing how trash you are or, you know, you're in year 10, you're getting a lot slower now, so you may do some sprints, but no, I think everybody has a true scouting report and we all deal with it, especially going to the draft. Everybody has a scouting report. This guy's probably not going to run good or he's a tweener. Or for me, it was like, oh, I don't know if this guy can tackle. This guy can tackle very well. I got almost 1000 tackles now, so I think I tackled pretty okay.

Matt Castle (41:01)

And I also think the best coordinators in our game recognize players strengths and weaknesses and put you in the best position to be successful, to not ask the good ones because we've been around plenty that asked me to do something I probably shouldn't be doing. But at the same time, they are able to recognize your strengths and weaknesses and design an offensive system around that or a defensive system that fits what you do best and stick to that. And if they can do that consistently, then you're going to have more success, obviously, than asking you to go outside your comfort zone. And then as a player, the evaluation's ongoing throughout the year, you're getting instantaneous feedback. It's. I mean, you literally go in, watch the game with the team, you watch the game in position groups and then you get, hey, your footwork was bad, Boom, boom, boom. So it's a lot of times, I would say in the NFL more so it's up to the player themselves if there's certain footwork that you need to get better at throughout a season because they're not really coaching fundamentals during the middle of the season. It's more scheme, more scheme that you've got to spend extra time on your own after practice or before practice, hone in on those skills. But you only have such a finite period of time, time to work on those. And that's why off season is such a pivotal time for all of us.

Bobby Bones (42:11)

I think if I'm a coach, I'm hiring a staff just to predict what the other staff is predicting about me. Like, I'm going full. What's the, what's the movie?

Kevin Byard (42:19)

The.

Bobby Bones (42:19)

The dream with DiCaprio is that inception, inception. I'm going full inception with my coaching staff.

Kevin Byard (42:25)

There you go.

Bobby Bones (42:26)

Like, I want that coaching staff to predict what the other coaching staff is going to predict about us. So then I can stay anyway.

Kevin Byard (42:35)

Well, nowadays everybody has, like, they're hiding hiring all the analytics and stuff now, like before, I think it Was like, kind of a pushback, like the old school coach. Like, I don't believe in analytics. Like, if it's fourth down, we're putting the ball no matter what. Like, but now, you see now, like, I mean, fourth down is basically just an extra down. I mean, fourth and three, you go for it. Fourth and three, everybody going for it. You know what I mean? That's how Ben was.

Bobby Bones (43:09)

How do you stay healthy? Like, what's. I mean, you ain't missed a game since, like, 61. You and. You and LeBeau were playing together.

Matt Castle (43:17)

Seriously?

Kevin Byard (43:18)

No, man, I don't.

Matt Castle (43:19)

164 straight. Is that what it is now?

Kevin Byard (43:22)

164 is crazy.

Bobby Bones (43:23)

Do you know that number? Like, is that number that sticks out?

Matt Castle (43:25)

100. 164 consecutive games?

Kevin Byard (43:27)

No. I will say in the back of my mind, though, now that I kind of have this streak going, like, you want to keep it going. So it's like. And it's not necessarily saying like, oh, please don't get hurt, don't get hurt, but when you have certain Knicks and bruises, like, I'm getting back out there. And I was always like that. But, no, man, I don't. A lot of it is, God, I've been blessed, you know, knock on wood and all that stuff. But I think a lot of it's preparation. How I train the off season. Certain guys have different ways how they train. Some dudes don't do anything until they report back in April. Some guys go almost 12 months. So I think for me, it's kind of how I phase out my training. I do a lot of running, and I think that's where I don't have any soft tissue injuries. I'm always running, I'm always conditioned. And then it's a lot of the recovery stuff throughout the season, throughout the off season as well. Pilates, just a bunch of different stuff that kind of, I think, aids me in my recovery and allowed me to continue to be able to play, you know, at a high level. But like I said, a lot of it has just been, you know, being blessed. You know what I mean? Like, you know, some people have freak injuries, you know, Right. If it's step, I mean, I had a guy, TJ Edwards, the linebacker, who was a routine linebacker, play tickets drop, and somebody clipped him in the back of his leg and broke his leg. It was just, like, super random. It wasn't like, nothing that he did. So I just been blessed in that aspect. So hopefully I can keep that streak going.

Matt Castle (44:45)

We talking about massage, like, so many Advancements has happened in terms of recovery. Like what's your go to weekly routine in terms of recovery?

Kevin Byard (44:54)

Yeah.

Bobby Bones (44:54)

How much money you spend on your body?

Kevin Byard (44:55)

Yeah.

Matt Castle (44:55)

Are you Derek Henry style?

Kevin Byard (44:57)

Like I don't know. I don't think so. Derek spent a lot of money on his body. But I'm up there though. I will say I'm up there. So when I was younger it would just literally just be massages. I couldn't. I hated cold. I never did cold tubs. I probably didn't start doing my first cold tub in the league till like year five. Year six was.

Matt Castle (45:14)

No way.

Kevin Byard (45:14)

Seriously. Listen, I could not get in that cold tub. I was. I was the B word. I was scared. But no. So now it's like in Chicago they had a great facility. They had so much stuff. So I actually added more. So like for example, on let's say games Sunday, I'm a big massage on Monday. I used to be a Tuesday. Cause our off day. But I've noticed that I'm like a second day soreness guy. So I'm a lot more.

Matt Castle (45:39)

So the toradol wore off.

Kevin Byard (45:41)

Well, I'm not even a Toradog guy, which is funny. But it's weird because most guys will tell you in the league that they're more sore two days after a game versus the day after because maybe it's still adrenaline. Vitamin T. If you're on the vitamin T or whatever, painkillers. So I get my recovery immediately on Monday. So Monday I go to the facility. I'm a red light guy. So I got into the red light therapy. 15 minutes in the red light therapy. I had the panels. We didn't have the tanning bed in Chicago.

Bobby Bones (46:08)

We got the bed at the house. You got one.

Kevin Byard (46:11)

I honestly, I was literally just on Google just researching some. We actually went about. Yeah, we're doing.

Bobby Bones (46:15)

We're like seven houses away.

Kevin Byard (46:16)

As long as you don't charge me, I go in there and use it. It's free.

Matt Castle (46:19)

Might have to babysit a little bit

Bobby Bones (46:21)

of Castle, get my kid into school. You got school in a few years.

Kevin Byard (46:24)

Well, yeah, you can use it all you want, 100%. So I do red light first thing in the morning, leave the red light, get in the hot tub. About another 10 minutes to warm up. So then I'm doing the water treadmill.

Matt Castle (46:34)

Oh yeah.

Kevin Byard (46:35)

So I do just like not sprints but like you know, high knees, different stuff like that to kind of flush the body in the treadm. And then obviously if I have anything like it was injured during the game, then I'm in the training room getting treatment on that. So then after that I'm not depending on if we had a victory Monday or not. Obviously you gotta do the workout on a Monday, so do a workout on Monday. After a workout, big sauna, cold plunge guy. So my deal is I do 15 minutes in a sauna, four minutes in a cold. I'm like all the way down to almost chest down. And I'll probably do two rounds of that if I'm feeling really good or if I had like we had a really good game and I had had some pretty good food after the game, then I'm probably doing three rounds if I need to. So then that's probably Monday. Then go home, spend time with the family, massage that night. Tuesday, fairly basically the same thing. Outside of probably a workout, I'm probably gonna do red light sauna again. The water treadmill.

Bobby Bones (47:31)

This is like a 10 year old question, but is it still fun on game day?

Kevin Byard (47:36)

That's the funnest part about football, I would say. You know, as you get older, the hardest part is the process. That's where that's. I think that's where guys start to have those thoughts and those thoughts like, how long I still want to do this, you know what I mean? The training camps, even the off season program, early offseason, the spring, like you know, even, you know, I'm going through with my family now, like having to, you know, go up in New England, April, and have to fly back and forth. Like that's where it becomes tougher and tougher. Especially you have families and children. The training camp, the soreness, the two day soreness, all the. Cause it's not just physical, but it's mental too. Like I'm a big routine guy. No, Matt, people that play in the league, they're so routine based and they're so used to that. But it takes a lot of mental strain to be able to have all these appointments and practitioners all lined up and doing the same thing over and over again. It becomes tougher and it's harder as you age because it's like, man, especially you make bit a little, make some dollars, you know what I mean? Like you kind of get complacent a little bit for me. And I always tell guys, you had to have a purpose bigger than just I wanna just be rich. And once you're rich, it's like, okay, what's next? Like your purpose had to be bigger. It has to be a legacy. You wanna go to the hall of Fame you wanna create generation, whatever it may be, it has to be something bigger. Because as you get older, it gets tougher and tougher. But game days, I mean, everybody loves game days. Cause I mean, you tell the coaches, leave you alone a little bit more on game day. You kind of just focus on yourself. You get your little ton of walks, get your drip going. You know, the fans, that's the most. Like I said in Chicago, this past year was incredible. I mean, those fans, they sell out every game. They sell out every game. Those playoff games, that one against the Rams that we played, the one we lost, that was one of the most incredible experiences I've had.

Bobby Bones (49:22)

Crazy.

Kevin Byard (49:22)

We beat Green Bay in the playoffs. D.J. moore got a walk off touchdown. Most insane. It was a movie, like legit. I remember the ball going up in the air. I was sitting on the bench. It was slow motion. You stood up, like just watched the ball and he caught it. It was insane.

Bobby Bones (49:36)

Like Caleb's running backward.

Kevin Byard (49:38)

Yeah, that was the Rams. Yeah, that was incredible. So like those type of things will never get old. The locker room never gets old. It's just all the stuff in between.

Matt Castle (49:48)

It is difficult to stay motivated the older you get. Just because like you said, you've got life going on, you got kids, you're doing all these things. And there is. That's the fight is the complacency, right. Of how do I get my mind right to know that I'm going to. About to leave my family behind, go here, be separated for them for a little while. But you got all the other stuff. What's it like at this juncture in your career? Right? You're going into year what, 11. 11, yeah, going into year 11. But you're also a new guy on the team, right? How do you build relationships in that locker room and how quickly do you get adapted to it? And obviously you come in with a reputation, right? And you've been playing for a long time, a guy that is a tremendous leader, been a captain on a lot of teams that you've. But what's that like going into a new locker room and kind of adapting to that new environment?

Kevin Byard (50:40)

No, it's different. I've done it the past, obviously. I got traded 20, 23 to Philly. So I was in a new locker room then. And obviously going to Chicago, it's another experience for me. I think the good thing about this experience that I have a lot of familiarity in the building. My old safety coach in Tennessee, he's the secondary coach there in New England. So obviously knowing braves the team chaplain that was in Tennessee, he's there. So I got a lot of mentors, I got a lot of people in that. But for the locker room, I think it's just. For me it's easy, you know what I mean? Because obviously, even though I'm unk. You know what I mean, I'm still one of the guys, I'm still playing at a higher level. And then like you said, coming in with that credibility already, I think I'm easily gonna be able to connect with the team. So I don't necessarily look at that as a big deal. But like you said, as you get older, I don't know if I'm gonna continue to want to do this, you know what I mean? Keep going to new places, dealing with the politics of the NFL and stuff like that. So for me, I hope and pray that obvious stop in New England is the one where I get the Super Bowl. And then, you know, obviously we'll see. You know, I've said this last year, past couple years in Chicago, but every year for me at this point is a year to year league, you know what I mean? It's a year to year. I put everything as possible, preparation into this one year and then we'll see what happens at the end of the season. But no, I mean, I think the familiarity with Braves and everybody up there is going to make this transition a lot easier than, you know, the previous couple years.

Matt Castle (52:02)

You guys got some dogs back there in that defensive back between Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones.

Kevin Byard (52:08)

I'm excited.

Matt Castle (52:08)

I mean, you guys gonna have a great group.

Bobby Bones (52:11)

Final question. You're here in Nashville. This is home now, right? Yeah, same with Castle. Like neither one of you guys actually grew up here. You did play college here. It's gotta be hard to live like during season in Chicago or Philly for a year when you got traded or now New England. But why here in Nashville as home? And then how hard is it to be gone? Does your family grow up with you a lot? Like, what's that?

Kevin Byard (52:33)

Yeah. So the past couple years in Chicago, the family has moved up, so we'll do half and half. So obviously, you know, our kids school has been gracious enough. You know where they allow us to, hey, you go up to Chicago for half the year, but then second semester they come back. So. But it gets tougher and tougher. I will say that especially as the kids get a little older, is that when they're like in just the preschools, stuff like that, it's like, hey, we'll just pick up not pulling up for friends.

Bobby Bones (52:58)

Now you.

Kevin Byard (52:58)

Well, it's just. You kind of just glorify daycare in a way. But they just learned that ABC is a little bit more.

Matt Castle (53:04)

How to go to the restroom without help.

Kevin Byard (53:06)

Exactly. But my daughter's 6 now, my son's 5. And I have a 2 year old as well. So as they kind of really get into their fearing groups and the sports and stuff like that, it gets tougher. We're probably gonna do the same thing this year in New England. But the logistics of it, you know what I mean? So for example, in Chicago, we were just renting. So we rented a house. Luckily the guy we rent, the house came fully furnished, so we didn't have to buy any new furniture. Yes, it was fully furnished, so that part was a little bit easier. But you know, just, you know, you get into the season and then, you know, my wife, she has stuff going on here and we gotta pick up and move everything up there. It's tough. And it's funny because I was having this talk with my guy, Demario Davis just the other day. Cause he's, you know, he has a big family as well. He kind of do the same thing. And we just talking like how, you know, the way we talk about it is like it's nothing. You know what I mean? We were so used to this lifestyle. But when you talk to other people, it's like, bro, how do you deal with that? It seems so tough and it is tough, but I guess we make the hard look easy, whatever. But yeah, just the moving parts of it is tougher. So for example, the first time I ever had, I got traded to Philadelphia. And I've told this story before, but my wife. We had literally just had our son. He was born very premature. He was at five and a half months. He was literally just born. So we just played a game in Indianapolis. We lost to Indianapolis. Remember we got home from a flight. This was still like Sunday night. Because it's a whole story. I don't know if we got enough time to get into it, but he was born that night. She had emergency C section. And he has spent how many months? He's basically from. This was October. He was in the NICU till February. Wow. So I spent the whole. So after he was born, a week later, well, a couple days later, actually we had a London game, so I left. He was born two, three days later. We had to go to London for basically two or three days. Lost to Baltimore. Next week I'm traded to Philadelphia. So my son's in the nicu, we're having deal all this stuff for my son and I'm up in Philadelphia by myself, basically miserable, you know what I mean? Like, I want to be home with my family. You know, I'm talking to Sierra. He was like, man, if you want to fly home after a game and be there till Wednesday, like, I'm completely fine with that. It was so tough. So, like dealing with all that stuff that, you know, that's kind of like the unspoken part of football. Because the football world, people that cover the game, they don't really know that stuff. They just care about, hey, are you producing or not? But just that part of just having to move around, it becomes tougher. So, yeah, it's not easy.

Matt Castle (55:44)

It's hard that people don't see. Right.

Kevin Byard (55:45)

It's a lot of stuff.

Matt Castle (55:46)

Yeah, I remember that situation coming up. But I mean, you're trying to be the father and all these things, but also the provider and you know that this is your job and it's an opportunity, but at the same time, there's two different hats that you constantly are wearing that everybody else doesn't see. Everybody as a fan just sees this performance based individual and it's whether you have success or not.

Kevin Byard (56:10)

Not.

Matt Castle (56:10)

But they don't realize any of the stuff on the background that's going on. That's real life stuff that players deal with.

Bobby Bones (56:16)

And we really appreciate you coming by, man.

Matt Castle (56:17)

It's been awesome.

Kevin Byard (56:18)

No, absolutely, man. Thank you.

Matt Castle (56:19)

Kevin's one of the special, special people you'll meet. He's incredible in every way.

Kevin Byard (56:24)

So I appreciate it in every way. Well, I try to be. I haven't, you know, every way is a little bit.

Matt Castle (56:32)

There may be some ghosts or skeletons in the closet when you go up.

Bobby Bones (56:36)

Like, when do you go up now?

Kevin Byard (56:37)

So we report on the 20th of April.

Bobby Bones (56:39)

So coming up. Yeah, like two weeks. Less than two weeks.

Kevin Byard (56:41)

Yeah, two weeks. But I'll be back in the Super Bowl. No, I think that's majority of most. Most teams. Yeah. Because some teams started this week. No, the guys that got new head coaches.

Bobby Bones (56:50)

Right.

Kevin Byard (56:50)

They started either yesterday or today. So, yeah, I mean, like you said, as you get older that that date comes faster and faster. It's like, man, off season just started.

Bobby Bones (56:59)

We appreciate you. I hope you have a great season. Yeah. There he is, the great Kevin Byer.

Kevin Byard (57:03)

Thank you.

Bobby Bones (57:10)

Lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is a production of the NFL and iHeart podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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