The Buffalo Bills lost their opening game of the season in heartbreaking fashion to the New England Patriots on Sunday and despite a solid game from EJ Manuel, the team now is dealing with some other situations, as the CEO of the team has disputed reports that safety Jairus Byrd has asked for a trade.
According to ESPN.com, Byrd requested a trade earlier from the team and reports came out last week that he wanted to be moved after dealing with a contract issue and a franchise tag earlier in the offseason and now the team is disputing reports that the safety has asked for a trade. Last week it was reported by ESPN and others that someone connected to Byrd as ked the Bills for a trade by the deadline later in the season, but later on in the week, the CEO of the team said that the report was not true.
The report from ESPN says that CEO Russ Brandon went on the radio in Buffalo and said to the media that a trade has not been asked for the Byrd did not confirm the report either. Byrd said to the media last week that he did not know where the reports came from, but naturally the Bills are also not saying that a trade will never happen, which obviously keeps the door open for things moving forward. Brandon said that the team has to listen to any offers that come in, but that they are not actively looking for a trade.
Byrd might be the most talented player on the Bills not named CJ Spiller and he has been a very good defensive back in the league for a number of years. Byrd's main issue in the offseason was getting a new deal done, but that didn't happen and the team put the franchise tag on him earlier in the offseason and he did not officially commit tot it until late in the summer. Byrd has not played for some time after sitting out the last two preseason games and the loss to the Patriots and the defense appeared to suffer late and across the middle during the game in his absence.
The Bills are looking to improve on defense under new head coach Doug Marrone and Byrd said that things between him and the front office are fine, including with general manager Doug Whaley, who obviously would be front and center if a trade went down. Byrd has been a solid pro since coming out of Oregon and after missing the game against the Patriots on Sunday, he likely will miss Sunday's game against the Panthers.
In his career Byrd has been very productive and he comes into this season with 223 career tackles on his own along with 308 combined as well as 10 forced fumbles and 18 interceptions. Even with the reports being denied, if a long-term deal isn't worked out, a trade could happen down the line.
