The New England Patriots set about to augment their roster from 2025 to seek to make another dash to the Super Bowl and this time to win it. They sought to fill a number of obvious holes and had mixed results. One position that didn't seem in dire need was free safety.
Regardless, Mike Vrabel added to the position and did so in style, signing one of the NFL's best safeties, Kevin Byard III, from the Bears.
Byard was a 2025 first-team All-Pro, the top of the heap, and while the signing was surprising, he's a welcome addition to Mike Vrabel's defense. Regardless, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, in his ratings of the NFL's top safeties, didn't include Byard in his Top 10, nor did he even make his Honorable Mention list.
Disrespect for the Patriots continues unabated, as Drake Maye is relegated to also-ran status in most quarterback rankings, and now Byard, a first-team All-Pro, is also mystifyingly slighted.
Kevin Byard III will help lead the Patriots back to the playoffs - and more
As the national anti-Patriots disrespect, bordering on folly, persists, one thing continues to accumulate on the Patriots' side of the equation. It's called bulletin board material or motivational factors.
There should be no shortage of those when the disrespected Patriots take the field for the first time on September 9 against the champion Seahawks.
The Patriots' young quarterback, Maye, who fell short of the MVP by a single vote, will be poised to take the top off the NFL. He'll be further galvanized by the blatant disrespect shown to him by some national pundits.
He's been ranked far down on the NFL's list of Top 100 players and even ignored as a top quarterback at all by some. Be advised: a healthy Maye will emerge in 2026 with two new top receivers, A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs, and will be loaded for bear to rip NFL defenses to shreds.
On defense, Byard will no doubt have the same approach. Leading the NFL in interceptions is a statistic the Patriots had to be enamored with before signing the 32-year-old veteran. Takeaways and sacks were problems for the 2025 Patriots, and overturning that disparity against their opponents had to be a key priority.
They did so in the interception department by signing Byard. On the edge, they were less successful in righting the ship, and much more work is still necessary.
Regardless, Byard's addition to the defensive backfield is a major plus. He'll team with fellow starters Pro-Bowler Christian Gonzalez, his shutdown fellow cornerback Carlton Davis III, 2025's rookie star, Craig Woodson, and Marcus Jones to form one of the NFL's most formidable defensive backfields.
For the Patriots, who are being glossed over as a 2026 NFL contender, all this noise can't help but be inspirational.
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