Solomon Byrd (born December 1, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Wyoming Cowboys The Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Wyoming, located in Laramie, Wyoming, Laramie. Wyoming is a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW) and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 17 ...

and the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

and was selected by the Texans in the seventh round of the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

Early life and high school

Byrd was born in

Palmdale, California Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On August 24, 1962 ...

where he attended

Knight High School Knight High School is a four-year public high school located in Palmdale, California, and is part of the Antelope Valley Union High School District. Knight High was the 7th general education school to join the district. The high school opened it ...

. In Byrd's high school career, he totaled 155 tackles with 20.5 going for a loss, 16 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and six forced fumbles. Byrd would decide to commit to play

at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

College career

Wyoming

In Byrd's first season with Wyoming in 2018, he had five tackles In week three of the 2019 season, Byrd had a clutch sack to force a punt with three minutes left in the game, as he helped Wyoming beat

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

21–16. In the following week, Byrd had a breakout game notching 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a pass deflection, in a win over

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

. Byrd finished the 2019 season with 45 tackles with 9.5 being for a loss, 6.5 sacks, a pass deflection, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble. For his performance on the 2019 season, Byrd was named a FWAA Freshman All-American. Byrd would decide to opt out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In the 2021 season, Byrd finished the season with 37 tackles with 3.5 being for a loss, and 3.5 sacks. After the conclusion of the 2021 season, Byrd announced his descison to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

USC

Byrd would initially decide to transfer to

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

but would later change his commitment to

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

. In week two Byrd had two sacks, in a win over

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. In week three, Byrd made his first career start where he made four tackles with two being for a loss, and a sack where he forced a fumble, and recovered it, as he helped USC beat

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

. Byrd finished the 2022 season with 28 tackles with 7.5 being for a loss, four sacks, a pass deflection, two fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble.

Professional career

Byrd was selected by the

in the seventh round (238th overall) of the

. He was waived on August 27, 2024, and re-signed to the practice squad. Byrd signed a reserve/future contract with Houston on January 21, 2025.

Personal life

Byrd's uncle,

Manfred Moore Manfred Moore (December 22, 1950 – January 11, 2020) was an American professional American football running back and, briefly, rugby league player who played in the 1970s. Early years Moore was born in Martinez, California. He graduated fr ...

, played in the NFL from 1974 to 1976, and won

Super Bowl XI Super Bowl XI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1976 Oakland Raiders season, Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1976 Minnesota Vikings season, Minnesota Vikings ...

with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

. Another uncle, Malcolm Moore played in three games for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

during the

1987 NFL season The 1987 NFL season was the 68th regular season of the National Football League (NFL). This season included games predominantly played by replacement players, as the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) players were National ...

References

External links

Houston Texans bioWyoming Cowboys bioUSC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrd, Solomon 1999 births Living people Players of American football from Palmdale, California American football defensive ends Wyoming Cowboys football players USC Trojans football players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen