Solomon Byrd

Solomon Byrd (born December 1, 1999) is an American football defensive end for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wyoming Cowboys and the USC Trojans and was selected by the Texans in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL draft.

Early life and high school
Byrd was born in Palmdale, California where he attended Knight High School. 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 college football at the University of Wyoming.

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 21-16. In the following week, Byrd had a breakout game notching 2.5 sacks, a foced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a pass deflection, in a win over Tulsa. 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 innitally decide to transfer to Georgia Tech but would later change his commitment to USC. In week two Byrd had two sacks, in a win over Stanford. 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. 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 Houston Texans in the seventh round (238th overall) of the 2024 NFL draft.