Buffalo Bills and Jairus Byrd Unlikely To Reach Long-Term Deal

Dec. 16, 2012; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Buffalo Bills free safety Jairus Byrd (31) tries to dive and tackle Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch (24) during the first half at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY SportsBuffalo Bills FS Jairus Byrd is one of the best safeties in the league. He has a couple of Pro Bowls under his belt and is looking to get paid like the Pro Bowler he is. He is looking for Eric Weddle or Dashon Goldson type money and he deserves it. If the Bills don’t want to pay him that money, some other team will.

Byrd has to play this year with the Bills under the franchise tag, but he will be a free agent again at the end of the year again and will once again be looking for a long-term deal worth top safety money. He has 18 interceptions and over 300 tackles in his first 4 seasons in the league. He has a ton of great football left.

It doesn’t seem that the Bills and Byrd are close on a new deal though:

“I would be completely and utterly shocked if there was a deal done by Monday,” said one league source familiar with the team. “There are no talks going on. Someone would have to seriously cave.”

Come next season, Byrd will be working to get that long-term deal all over again.