Jackson Free Press

At 4 p.m. Tuesday, the NFL free agency period began, and it didn't take long for teams to start spending money like drunken sailors on shore leave.

While the Denver Broncos might be making the biggest waves so far, the New Orleans Saints showed why they cut all those familiar names this offseason. The Saints have made headlines for the players they have let go, and for the Darren Sproles drama. New Orleans still hasn't cut Sproles, wanting to trade him, but the running back wants to be released after finding out more information on Twitter than from the team itself.

Former Buffalo Bills free safety Jairus Byrd's first stop was New Orleans, and the Saints didn't let him out the door. Byrd signed with New Orleans after five seasons with the Bills.

The Saints inked him to a six-year deal worth $56 million, with $28 million guaranteed. The NFL Network named Byrd the number-one free agent, and he was also a consensus top-five free agent with other NFL media.

It is easy to see why teams coveted Byrd. Over the last five seasons Byrd has been in the league, he has made 22 interceptions and forced 11 fumbles. Only cornerback Asante Samuel had more interceptions over the last five seasons, with 25 total. Even though Byrd missed all of the preseason and the first five games of last season with plantar fasciitis, the former Oregon Duck still finished the season with 48 total tackles (37 solo), four interceptions, one forced fumble and one sack.

If there was any need to prove that these aren't your father's Saints or the Saints you grew up with, Byrd's response to why he chose New Orleans says it all.

"The winning culture. What Coach (Sean) Payton has done and what Drew Brees has done here," Byrd said during a conference call with the New Orleans media on Wednesday. It wasn't that long ago that the words "winning" and "culture" wouldn't be used to describe the Saints.

The team will expect Byrd to help a defense that forced just 19 turnovers last season and finished in the bottom half of the league in forced turnovers. He also will join second-year safety Kenny Vaccaro to create one of the best safety combos in the NFL next season.

Saints' defensive coordinator Rob Ryan should be able to use the versatile Byrd in several different ways in New Orleans' attacking defensive scheme. Byrd got a first hand look at that scheme when the Bills faced the Saints in week eight last season with a 38-17 New Orleans win.

Another plus for Byrd is the chance to play in front of the Saints fans, and the atmosphere of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

"That was big. Playing here last year, I saw how the atmosphere was. It was electric," Byrd said. "They're really behind their team. The Dome was rocking when I was here. They feed off that, and I think that's really big. Anytime you're playing football on defense, you always want to have that noise. That's big."