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The San Diego Chargers should trade for Jairus Byrd

Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl safety Jairus Byrd is unhappy in Buffalo and would welcome a trade to the right destination. The San Diego Chargers owe it to themselves, and their fans, to make a phone call.

By John Gennaro
Timothy T. Ludwig-US PRESSWIRE

I know the San Diego Chargers are very near the salary cap. I know that Marcus Gilchrist has supposedly looked better at strong safety than he looked at cornerback. I still think Tom Telesco should pick up the phone to see what it would take to get Jairus Byrd away from the Buffalo Bills.

The situation is such that the Bills put the franchise tag on the Pro Bowl free safety, but Byrd had been reluctant to sign without a guarantee that the Bills won't franchise him again next year (which Buffalo won't give him). Well, after holding out this long, Jairus finally gave in and signed his franchise tender today...but he doesn't appear to be happy about the situation either.

There's a few reasons why it would make sense for the Chargers to trade for Byrd:

  • Two Pro Bowl safeties are better than one, and would take a ton of pressure off of the cornerbacks.
  • With Byrd and Eric Weddle being able to play in the box or in centerfield, they could do a lot to fool opposing offenses by showing one look and switching to another when the ball is snapped.
  • Marcus Gilchrist could return to nickel cornerback, where he wasn't great but is probably better than Johnny Patrick. This group, which is injury prone and really low on depth, would welcome the addition of Gilchrist.
  • Jairus' father, Gil Byrd, is a Chargers legend. The fans of the team want to cheer for Gil's son. It would be an easy buy-in and a lot of jerseys would be sold.
  • Jairus is 26 years old and Weddle is 28. Having them both means the back-end of your defense is great for the next three years, at least, and Byrd can eventually take over for Weddle if they can't resign him.
  • It immediately moves the team from "We're hoping to be a winning team soon" to "We're going to win now, even if we need to do it on the back of our defense" mentality, which the fans would love.

Does the move make financial sense? Probably not. Telesco probably would scoff at the asking price too, which would undoubtedly be a high pick or two in addition to a contract extension. That being said (and I'm allowing myself to be a fan instead of an impartial observer on this one), go get Jairus Byrd! It'd be worth it just to watch how great him and Weddle could be together.

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