Former Auburn star Josh Bynes makes NFL free agency decision

Free agency is in full swing in the National Football League and it’s been one of the wildest free agency periods in league history this offseason, no question about that. One player who made his decision on where he’ll be playing his professional football next year is former Auburn linebacker Josh Bynes. He re-signed with the Baltimore Ravens on Friday evening, per PFF’s Ari Meirov. Last season, he started 12 games for the Ravens and racked up 76 tackles.

During his professional career, Bynes has bounced around to a number of different teams across the league, including: the Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, and two different stints with the Baltimore Ravens.

When he was with the Auburn Tigers in college, Bynes racked up 240 tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, and 13 passes deflected. As a senior, he was named second team All-SEC. As a high school prospect, he was rated a four-star prospect in the 2007 class, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings.

A few weeks ago, Tigers’ head football coach Bryan Harsin spoke about a number of newcomers impressed early in spring practice.

Bryan Harsin on the talented newcomers at Auburn that have impressed

“I think Jay Fair. He’s getting more reps. And Jay’s just learning. And you can see a little bit, too. Like right now, you start getting into that fourth and fifth install so the young guys–it starts to become a lot. I think Holden’s [Geriner] done some good things. And now you get a chance to go back and review a lot of this stuff. So Holden, Jay, J.D. Rhym. He’s a guy that the other day–we had a little bit of a live period. It was goal line period. He came up and he was really physical. And you don’t know that. You don’t know what that’s going to look like for some of these young players. He went in there and stuck his shoulder on the ball. Caused a fumble. Made a big play. And some of the new guys as well, Jason Jones. Good to see him. He’s played,” Harsin said.

Harsin also talked a bit about how good it was to see some of the young players in the program get some opportunities and reps. “Some of these young players that we brought in. Just to see them get out there for the first time. Get a chance to see them in our schemes.”

JaDarian Rhym was rated as a four-star prospect in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings. The 6-foot-1, 180 pound safety suited up for the prestigious high school program of Valdosta (Valdosta, Georgia). He was a massive land for Harsin and the Tigers coaching staff, as they flipped his commitment from LSU to Auburn late in the recruiting process. Rhym had been committed to LSU for nearly a year, but switched to Auburn one day before the Early Signing Period. You can read an in-depth scouting report on the gifted cornerback in On3’s Jeffrey Lee’s article here.

It’s great to talk about spring football and there’s no doubt that Bryan Harsin has to be excited to talk about football again, too. Hearing about the young and talented prospects has to get Auburn fans excited about the future, too. It’s undoubtedly one of the best parts of spring football. It will be interesting to see how Harsin and his coaching staff can develop the young talent for the future.

Auburn’s A-Day Spring Game is slated to be played on Saturday, April 9.