Ran Carthon confirms Titans asked Kevin Byard to take pay cut

Ran Carthon confirmed earlier reports yesterday that the Tennessee Titans did ask Kevin Byard to take a pay cut. He went on to say that Byard did not ask to be cut or traded after that happened. Sorry, Stillman.

It was refreshing to see Carthon be so candid in that situation. You don’t always get that from a general manager.

I still don’t understand why he asked Byard to take a pay cut. Byard is the 5th highest paid safety in the league and still plays like a top-5 safety - not to mention the fact that you couldn’t ask for a better guy to be a leader on your team. He has been the epitome of a team-first guy his entire career here.

Byard reportedly wasn’t in the building last week for the Titans’ first round of OTAs. That isn’t necessarily a big deal, but it does raise a few questions because he is usually around for all of that kind of stuff.

If I had to bet, I would bet that when the dust settles on all of this that Byard is playing safety for the Titans when the season opens in September.