Player
Kevin Byard
S · Bears
Kevin Byard: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
More interceptions than any defender in the NFL since he entered the league.
RareCareer INT leaders (2016-2025, regular season)
| Player | INTs |
|---|---|
| Kevin Byard | 37 |
| Justin Simmons | 33 |
| Xavien Howard | 32 |
| Harrison Smith | 30 |
| Jalen Ramsey | 29 |
| Marcus Peters | 29 |
| Jessie Bates | 28 |
| Tyrann Mathieu | 28 |
37 career interceptions since 2016 leads every NFL defender — corners, safeties, linebackers, all of them. Justin Simmons (33) is the closest peer, and Byard has done it while playing in 167 of a possible 174 games over a 10-season span.
The ranking is more striking because of how it was built. Byard's career started with the 2017 outlier (8 INTs in his second season) and has been a slow, steady accumulation since — never fewer than 1 INT in any year, and four separate seasons with 5+.
A decade of metronomic production — and the only year-1 vs year-10 stat that drops is his INT total.
TrendCareer arc by season
| Year | Team | G | Tackles | PDs | INTs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | TEN | 16 | 58 | 4 | 0 |
| 2017 | TEN | 17 | 88 | 16 | 8 |
| 2018 | TEN | 16 | 81 | 8 | 4 |
| 2019 | TEN | 17 | 82 | 9 | 5 |
| 2020 | TEN | 17 | 106 | 8 | 2 |
| 2021 | TEN | 17 | 73 | 13 | 5 |
| 2022 | TEN | 17 | 96 | 6 | 4 |
| 2023 | TEN/PHI | 16 | 110 | 3 | 1 |
| 2024 | CHI | 17 | 120 | 7 | 1 |
| 2025 | CHI | 17 | 90 | 8 | 7 |
Tackles per season
| Season | Tackles |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 58 |
| 2017 | 88 |
| 2018 | 81 |
| 2019 | 82 |
| 2020 | 106 |
| 2021 | 73 |
| 2022 | 96 |
| 2023 | 110 |
| 2024 | 120 |
| 2025 | 90 |
2017 stays the single-season ball-hawk peak (8 INTs, 16 PDs, both career-highs that he's never matched). But the curve underneath has shifted: he's added tackling volume as the INT rate has come down. 2024's 120 tackles in Chicago was the most of his career.
The career hump in 2017 — when he tied for the NFL INT lead at age 24 — has aged into a 10-year veteran who fills the box, the deep half, and the slot equally. 2025 (8 PDs, 7 INTs as a 32-year-old) is a partial return to form on top of the tackle baseline.
In his second NFL season he tied for the league INT title — and he's never matched it.
Milestone2017 NFL INT leaders
| Player | INTs |
|---|---|
| Kevin Byard | 8 |
| Darius Slay | 8 |
| Jalen Ramsey | 6 |
| Marcus Peters | 6 |
| A.J. Bouye | 6 |
As a second-year third-round pick out of Middle Tennessee State, Byard tied for the NFL lead in interceptions (8) with Darius Slay and earned first-team All-Pro honors.
The ceiling has been the floor ever since: he's averaged 3.2 INTs/year over the 8 seasons since, never matching the 2017 number — which is the only year of his career where the volume spiked. The body of work has now eclipsed the spike year regardless.
He plays his best defense at age 31 — the Chicago renaissance is real.
SplitRecent tackle + INT splits
| Window | Tackles/Yr | INTs/Yr | PDs/Yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-22 (TEN) | 83.4 | 4.0 | 9.1 |
| 2023 (TEN/PHI) | 110 | 1 | 3 |
| 2024-25 (CHI) | 105 | 4.0 | 7.5 |
The narrative on the 2023 Titans-to-Eagles trade was 'aging vet, declining ball skills.' The data tells a different story: he moved to Chicago in 2024 and his tackle rate jumped (120 in year one, 90 already in 2025) while his INT rate recovered to 4/year.
Most safeties drop off after 30. Byard at age 31 (2024) and 32 (2025) is producing better than his post-2017 Titans baseline on both axes.
He gets his INTs the same way every year — and it's not the way most safeties do.
AnomalyAcross 82 career pass defenses, 37 became interceptions — a 45.1% conversion rate. League-average for safeties since 2016 is closer to 20%.
The baseline pattern: when Byard is in position to get a hand on a pass, he comes down with it. He doesn't get 'targeted into' as much volume as a corner (37 INTs on 82 PDs vs. Xavien Howard's 32 INTs on 110 PDs), but the per-touch capture rate is the highest of any active 5+ INT safety. That's the underlying mechanism — soft hands, not aggressive jumps — that's let the numbers age well as his closing speed has slowed.
2025 is the best ball-hawking year by any 32-year-old DB in the database.
ComparisonAt 32, his 7 INTs in 2025 is his highest single-season count since 2017 — and it ranks among the top INT seasons by any defensive back age 32 or older in the database era.
The broader career arc curves cleanly: 8 INTs at age 24 (2017), four seasons in the 4-5 INT range through age 28, a dip to 1 INT at age 30 (2023 split between TEN/PHI), and now 7 INTs at age 32. The aging curve says he should be a deep-half body and tackle compiler. He's both — and he's also still picking off 7 passes a year.
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