I'd say it was a very risky move by the front office at best.
Byrd's best year was his rookie season in '09 with a ton of INT's, but he ended that season on IR, but got nominated for the pro-bowl. He had solid years in '10-11, but he was hurt in 2012 and 2013 with limited play.

With his performance dropping off or non-existent for (now) 3 straight seasons tells me he has this one last chance to shine bright or we just wasted a bunch of money. A HUGE deal for a player who has barely seen the field. Really think we should have signed a d-lineman or o-linemen - for freaking 6-year $56 million contract. That's unreal for a player that hasn't produced the past couple of seasons.

I'm a little concerned.

He only missed 5 games in 5 years with the Bills and had 9 picks his last 2 seasons.

And he hasn't made the big money yet. If he crashes and burns he probably won't see very much of that money. His last 4 years are 32 million just in base salary. He'll restructure or he'll never see that money.

Wish and hope for the best for Byrd as a Saint; contract was too risky and there were as good options available...

Then we already had two good safeties to build...

Raphael Bush and Kenny Vaccaro...

Neither are even in the same hemisphere as Jairus Byrd.

We needed a center field safety, and he was probably top 3 in the NFL. Neither Bush nor Vaccaro fit the bill (pardon the pun).