It Appears That Jairus Byrd's Underwhelming Stint As A New Orleans Saint Is Coming To An End

Sean Payton also confirmed to @Saints that Jairus Byrd will be released.

— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) March 2, 2017

And like any failed marriage, it ends with the bad times drastically outweighing the good. Both parties must feel completely unfulfilled and be wondering where it all went wrong, and I don't even blame them. When Jairus Byrd got paid an exorbitant amount of money to solidify the secondary in New Orleans the fit almost felt too perfect. He and the Saints were like that couple that seems too good to be true, and boy were they. Unfortunately, that's a common theme that Sean Payton and staff encounter all too often with highly priced free agents and this one was no different. You can probably tally up on one hand the amount of significant plays made in the black & gold by someone that was supposed to provide the defense with a ball-hawking turnover machine. Ironically enough, it was the rare instances in which he wasn't hurt where he ended up the most crippled. Devonta Freeman put him on his back so many times this past season that I swore he was just one more juke away from a compound fracture. 

That being said, I don't particularly agree with his release. He had started to come around towards the end of last year and I didn't see the harm in seeing if this two interception performance against the Buccaneers was merely a flash in the pan. It would take quite the career resurrection for the Saints to actually regret cutting Jairus Byrd, but Vonn Bell better be ready for full-time duty with the lack of depth that's now behind him.

Oh well, that's one less player that was (completely legitimately) treated as a scapegoat, and therefore one less player to take the heat off this front office if they don't turn things around soon. It's crunch time with Drew Brees rapid approaching the end of his career, and - while there's still quite a bit of dead money to worry about - there's no more dead weight to blame for what has felt like an endless cycle of disappointment and eerily reminiscent 7-9 seasons.

P.S. Is it dusty in here?

i would like to thank my name bro @jairusbyrd for all the support he has given me‼‼‼ you will always be a Saint to me my dude □□□□ pic.twitter.com/1YhfDCX013

— Jarrius Robertson (@Jarrius) March 2, 2017

No doubt lil bro, I got your back.. we will always be on the same team https://t.co/0yQ9KTrCRC

— jairus byrd (@jairusbyrd) March 2, 2017