The Rush: Titans’ Kevin Byard on the addition of Julio Jones, tackling Derrick Henry
Titans defensive back Kevin Byard joins The Rush to discuss the addition of Julio Jones, how to tackle teammate Derrick Henry and the new 17-game NFL schedule.
Video Transcript
KEVIN BYARD: They're going to have to pick their poison. They're going to have to go into the game saying that OK, we're either going to stop Derrick, or we're going to stop these two guys from the outside. So good luck.
JARED QUAY: What's up, everybody? I'm here with All-Pro Tennessee Titans Kevin Byard. Kevin, how are you doing, man?
KEVIN BYARD: I'm doing a great, Jared. How about you?
JARED QUAY: Doing amazing. You got the longest NFL pass and touchdown for a defensive player, man.
KEVIN BYARD: Yeah, yeah. It was my first year with Vrabel, man. Threw up a fake punt, man. It was an awesome experience. Obviously, never threw a touchdown before obviously in college and in the NFL. So great experience.
JARED QUAY: What is it like when you're running a fake punt? Is it like, are you being secretive? Do you act different? Like, how different is that as a player?
KEVIN BYARD: So it's funny because it wasn't called off the jump. So we was practicing this play. You know how special teams are. You practice fakes. You practice all this type of stuff all year, and you never run them.
And my coach pretty much told me, hey man, if you get this look in the game, I'm just going to let you call it. If you see it, call it. And the first game we played against Miami, I seen the look. But I was still a little nervous to call it on my own because we was winning the game. I didn't want to blow the game on a fake punt or whatever.
So the second game of the year we played Houston, and they gave me the same exact look. And it was so funny because I lined up back there, the kickee. And I'm just kind of looking like, oh shoot, it's about to go down. I'm about to actually throw a fake punt.
And, yeah man, threw a touchdown to my guy, Dane Cruikshank. Stadium went crazy. It was an awesome experience.
JARED QUAY: Man, that's amazing, bro. You guys got a new teammate, Julio Jones. And really the easiest question is, how is anyone going be able to stop Tennessee in 2021? Like, you guys are good on both sides of the ball.
KEVIN BYARD: Yeah, man. That's a question that I think a lot of defenses and defensive coordinators are asking themselves right now. And then you got Derrick Henry, 2K. I mean, this guy you have to game plan against him.
He's got to be the first priority. You got to stop the run, but you can't put eight guys in the box. You can't put nine guys in the box because you can't have Julio out there one on one and also have AJ out there one on one.
So defenses are going to have to kind of pick their poison. They're going to have to go into the game saying that, OK, we're either going to stop Derrick, or we're going to stop these two guys on the outside. So good luck.
JARED QUAY: As a defensive player when your offense is so prolific, does that add pressure to the defense or ease pressure for the defense?
KEVIN BYARD: Nah, I wouldn't say it eases pressure or anything like that. Honestly, man, last year we was pretty good our offense honestly. Like you said, having Derrick, having AJ Brown, Corey Davis, who moved on to the Jets. He had a really good year. Tannehill.
Our whole offense put up a lot of points. I think we averaged over 30 points a game, and we didn't have a great year defensively, obviously. But that's been the key of this offseason-- try to improve on the defense. John and Mike Vrabel have done a great job bringing a lot of good guys on the team-- Bud Dupree, Denico Autry, Janoris Jenkins, just to name a few. And had a pretty good draft class.
So that's just been our message. It doesn't really matter what the offense does. It doesn't matter who we bring in-- Julio. It doesn't matter. We have to be better so we can try to make the run to the Super Bowl. So if you add a great defense to the offensive guys that we have down on offensive firepower, we're definitely contenders.
JARED QUAY: How do you feel about the 17-game season? Do you love it? Do you not love it?
KEVIN BYARD: I signed up to play football. I love playing the game of football. But honestly, at the same time, 16 games is a long season itself. So you add another game know you're already talking about doing Thursday Night Football, Sunday night, or Monday. It's a lot going on.
But at the end of the day, I think that us, as players, we kind of understood and knew that they was going to add an extra game. We might get to 18 games. I don't know if it's going to be soon, but it probably will be.
Fans love the game of football. They want to watch us play. And I just kind of look at it as another opportunity to go out there and showcase my talents.
JARED QUAY: Also, I mean, I know you're on the same team as Derrick Henry. I mean, I don't know have you ever talked to him in practice, but like, what's the best way to bring down Derrick Henry?
KEVIN BYARD: Well, I tell you what. Don't go in there trying to hit him up high because that stiff arm is deadly. He has the best stiff arm in the league, probably one of the best stiff arms I ever seen. I mean, you just got to go for his legs, man. I think you got to go try to chop him down.
I'm not saying this is 100% accurate or it's going to work every time. But your best is to try to go chop his legs down because this guy-- I mean, his upper body, his stiff arm. And you just want to stay away from that from all costs because you will be viral right after the game.
JARED QUAY: Can you tell us a little bit about the Byard Family Legacy Fund and what that's all about?
KEVIN BYARD: Yeah, so this is a foundation me and my wife started just a couple of years ago, something that's very near and dear to our hearts. I always felt like when I got to this platform and got this opportunity to be able to inspire others. I want to be able to reach out to the community and do whatever I can to help those guys out.
And it's not a specific group. It's not an age group. It's not a race or anything like that. It's all about just giving God's grace to people in need.
I'm hosting of my football camp this year July 24, which should be fun. My second camp ever. We have a back-to-school drive we're doing, Christmas, Thanksgiving. Just so many different things we have in store for our community.
JARED QUAY: Thank you for doing all the good you're doing, man. I hope you have the best season ever this year.
KEVIN BYARD: I appreciate it, man. I had fun today.