Dennis Wayne Byrd (August 31, 1946 – July 22, 2010) was an American professional football defensive end who played in the American Football League (AFL) one season for the Boston Patriots.
He played college football for the NC State Wolfpack, where he was named first-team All-ACC in each of his three years of varsity competition and was a consensus All-American as a senior in 1967.
He is regarded as one of the most dominant defensive tackles in the Atlantic Coast Conference history.
Byrd started all 14 games for the 1968 Patriots team, but he was never able to fully recover from a knee injury he suffered in his senior year at NC State and only played one year in the NFL.
[citation needed] In 2001, Byrd became the first defensive player at NC State to have his jersey number (77) retired.