Ed Reed released by Texans ... signs with Jets

[Kontradiction]

My eyes

10 char

He's staying in mostly zone coverage and those two picks were even bigger gifts than what Wilson got last year. By my eyes, he's only had one game where I've been really impressed with the snaps that he got, and that was the first Jets game only because he seemed to be allowed to roam a bit more than any of the other games he's appeared in, and didn't appear to be out of position all that much. Outside of that, it's tough to say that he's impressed. Regardless, Reed has been able to get on the field as a starter and will now start for a different defense. Even if you're only using that as a starting point, me saying that he's shown more than Harmon would be correct.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Good move for him and the Jets. Their safeties are so awful in coverage that he'll be their best centerfielder if he has even 70% of what he used to.

 

[manxman2601]

He's staying in mostly zone coverage and those two picks were even bigger gifts than what Wilson got last year. By my eyes, he's only had one game where I've been really impressed with the snaps that he got, and that was the first Jets game only because he seemed to be allowed to roam a bit more than any of the other games he's appeared in, and didn't appear to be out of position all that much. Outside of that, it's tough to say that he's impressed. Regardless, Reed has been able to get on the field as a starter and will now start for a different defense. Even if you're only using that as a starting point, me saying that he's shown more than Harmon would be correct.

I don't know why you and Deus keep mentioning those interceptions; I never did. After Harmon got drafted, I watched him extensively and became a fan and for that reason I've kept a tab on him since. That Ed Reed was a starter for the 2-7 Texans that was cut at mid-season does not seem to be a good starting point for determining that he's likely to be a better player than Duron Harmon for the Patriots for the rest of the season.

 

[Deus Irae]

I don't know why you and Deus keep mentioning those interceptions; I never did. After Harmon got drafted, I watched him extensively and became a fan and for that reason I've kept a tab on him since. That Ed Reed was a starter for the 2-7 Texans that was cut at mid-season does not seem to be a good starting point for determining that he's likely to be a better player than Duron Harmon for the Patriots for the rest of the season.

1.) I'm not sure where "keep mentioning" comes from. I simply stated that they shouldn't be tabbed in with how Harmon's played since they were gifts.

2.) I've not really said much about Harmon because I don't think we've got enough to go on yet, and I don't want to evaluate him too soon. Time will tell the tale. His passing Tavon Wilson on the depth chart is about as meaningless as me passing a corpse in a foot race, so we can't even really use that for much.

 

[Dragda]

I was hopeful he could come in and put our defense over the top to win it all. Since the Jets got him, I am totally convinced he is washed up completely and will whiff at tackles at key times. Then he'll spread MRSA in the locker room and get in a fight with the now anonymous Firemen Ed.

 

[BradyManny]

I agree with manxman that Harmon has looked good. That said, as I said way upthread, that's not really my concern.

Believe it or not, I'm not worried about the 3rd round rookie who we allegedly over-drafted, since everything we've seen from has been encouraging. What information we have on him suggests he's a decent safety in our system, already.

Again, I'm much more concerned with the fact that we're a couple injuries away from having Tavon Wilson & Nate Ebner back there at safety. Let's face it, with Mayo & Big Vince out, the secondary has and will have to continue to carry this defense. For large parts of this season, that has meant carrying the offense as well. We cannot afford any injuries in that secondary, and I felt Reed would've been a logical add, a way of getting a serviceable guy with the smarts capable of assimilating into this defense mid-season. Even if he's lost a step, he would know where to be and could communicate. That's been an issue for us in the past when we've had to work in scrub safeties.

Unfortunately, he seemed to want to play for the Jets. There's not much the Pats can do about that.

 

[JackBauer]

Again, I'm much more concerned with the fact that we're a couple injuries away from having Tavon Wilson & Nate Ebner back there at safety.

Gregory's only out a few weeks. I have a feeling we'll survive until he gets back. Though I should note it's really odd that I'm actually positively anticipating Steve Gregory coming back from an injury.

 

[manxman2601]

I agree with manxman that Harmon has looked good. That said, as I said way upthread, that's not really my concern.

Believe it or not, I'm not worried about the 3rd round rookie who we allegedly over-drafted, since everything we've seen from has been encouraging. What information we have on him suggests he's a decent safety in our system, already.

Again, I'm much more concerned with the fact that we're a couple injuries away from having Tavon Wilson & Nate Ebner back there at safety. Let's face it, with Mayo & Big Vince out, the secondary has and will have to continue to carry this defense. For large parts of this season, that has meant carrying the offense as well. We cannot afford any injuries in that secondary, and I felt Reed would've been a logical add, a way of getting a serviceable guy with the smarts capable of assimilating into this defense mid-season. Even if he's lost a step, he would know where to be and could communicate. That's been an issue for us in the past when we've had to work in scrub safeties.

Unfortunately, he seemed to want to play for the Jets. There's not much the Pats can do about that.

Well said. I was for signing Ed Reed but as cover behind McCourty & Harmon.

 

[Rob0729]

The funny thing is the way Ed Reed has been playing the last few years that no one would even care about him right now if his name was Ed Smith. Reed has not been a very good safety in a while. He was mediocre last year. He has been awful this year.


I think the Jets made a low risk move signing Reed especially considering their safety situation is not great to begin with, but I don't expect them to get much more production out of him than Houston did.

Also, Reed plays the safety spot McCourty plays, not Gregory. Anyone here want to take the McCourty off the field for Reed. I know the Jets fans scoffed at me when I said McCourty is far better than Reed at this point, but do any rational football fan think that?

 

[manxman2601]

1.) I'm not sure where "keep mentioning" comes from. I simply stated that they shouldn't be tabbed in with how Harmon's played since they were gifts.

2.) I've not really said much about Harmon because I don't think we've got enough to go on yet, and I don't want to evaluate him too soon. Time will tell the tale. His passing Tavon Wilson on the depth chart is about as meaningless as me passing a corpse in a foot race, so we can't even really use that for much.

1. well you mentioned it, in response to my post, and then Kontra mentioned it even though it was never part of my evaluation.

2. And I certainly never used "his passing Tavon Wilson" either. Harmon is a good free safety with plus range and by all accounts is a smart footballer. He has made some poor decisions at times but that's to be expected from a rookie safety but he's also made a number of positive plays. I'd be much more comfortable with his range and tackling ability over Ed Reed right now.

 

[Patsrock]

Yes they were gifts by Harmons 2 int's are still two more than Reed has this year.

 

[Luxusdk]

Again, I'm much more concerned with the fact that we're a couple injuries away from having Tavon Wilson & Nate Ebner back there at safety. Let's face it, with Mayo & Big Vince out, the secondary has and will have to continue to carry this defense. For large parts of this season, that has meant carrying the offense as well. We cannot afford any injuries in that secondary, and I felt Reed would've been a logical add, a way of getting a serviceable guy with the smarts capable of assimilating into this defense mid-season. Even if he's lost a step, he would know where to be and could communicate. That's been an issue for us in the past when we've had to work in scrub safeties.

Funny i see Nate Ebner more as a LB then a S. Could see him play Fletchers dime roll in the future.

 

[Huckleberry1]

The funny thing is the way Ed Reed has been playing the last few years that no one would even care about him right now if his name was Ed Smith. Reed has not been a very good safety in a while. He was mediocre last year. He has been awful this year.


I think the Jets made a low risk move signing Reed especially considering their safety situation is not great to begin with, but I don't expect them to get much more production out of him than Houston did.

Also, Reed plays the safety spot McCourty plays, not Gregory. Anyone here want to take the McCourty off the field for Reed. I know the Jets fans scoffed at me when I said McCourty is far better than Reed at this point, but do any rational football fan think that?

I wanted them to bring him in however the fact that the Ravens passed on him at any price is pretty telling, and they have the best read on what he has left of anyone as they had him around his entire career and can measure where he is at against that.

Oh well, get it done with young guys.

 

[Kontradiction]

I don't know why you and Deus keep mentioning those interceptions; I never did. After Harmon got drafted, I watched him extensively and became a fan and for that reason I've kept a tab on him since. That Ed Reed was a starter for the 2-7 Texans that was cut at mid-season does not seem to be a good starting point for determining that he's likely to be a better player than Duron Harmon for the Patriots for the rest of the season.

Reed was a starter on a pretty good defense and was cut because of the surprisingly quick development of a rookie coupled with the fact that he bad mouthed the coaching staff. You yourself have made this point. So yeah, for depth purposes, saying that Reed is likely to be a better option than Harmon going forward isn't a reach.

1. well you mentioned it, in response to my post, and then Kontra mentioned it even though it was never part of my evaluation.

I thought that's where you were going to go with it, personally. The INT's were the #1 thing people were harping on with Wilson last season.

2. And I certainly never used "his passing Tavon Wilson" either. Harmon is a good free safety with plus range and by all accounts is a smart footballer. He has made some poor decisions at times but that's to be expected from a rookie safety but he's also made a number of positive plays. I'd be much more comfortable with his range and tackling ability over Ed Reed right now.

Thing is, outside of the first game against the Jets in week two, the team hasn't really let him use his range. He's mostly been sitting back in a Cover-1 or Cover-2 shell and playing almost exclusively zone from what I've seen. Granted, I don't have the All-22, so I may be mistaken.

 

[manxman2601]

Funny i see Nate Ebner more as a LB then a S. Could see him play Fletchers dime roll in the future.

I don't think Ebner is anything more than a special teamer only. The defensive Slater.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Funny i see Nate Ebner more as a LB then a S. Could see him play Fletchers dime roll in the future.

I'm sure there are many who consider Ebner a bust because he doesn't see the field for snaps, however Belichick doesn't keep guys around for no reason and I'm wondering if he sees him as similar to Ninkovich, giving him ST reps as he tries to develop into a role player on defense and maybe more if he shows he can handle it. He saw little time defensively at his minor league program so he clearly had a long way to go from that to a defensive role in the NFL, but that doesn't mean he can't start showing enough to start earning defensive snaps next season.

 

[Deus Irae]

Yes they were gifts by Harmons 2 int's are still two more than Reed has this year.

That means nothing, which is the whole point of noting that they were gifts. Kyle Arrington had 7 interceptions in 2011. He must be an incredible ball hawk, right?

He's got 2 total interceptions in the other 50 games he's played in his career.

 

[Urgent]

Also, Reed plays the safety spot McCourty plays, not Gregory. Anyone here want to take the McCourty off the field for Reed. I know the Jets fans scoffed at me when I said McCourty is far better than Reed at this point, but do any rational football fan think that?

Which doesn't mean Belichick would play him the same way the Texans did, or the way he played in Baltimore the first six-seven years of his career.

Reiss, I think, hypothesized that if Reed joined the Patriots the obvious role would be in Gregory's spot - which he pointed out was different, and potentially a better fit at this point in his career. The Texan's may have mis-used him as a centerfielder. He's more of a right fielder now - slower feet, more thump.

And, as many have pointed out, no one here is suggesting replacing McCourtey with Reed. Much more like adding Andre Carter - to replace not Chandler Jones but Jake Bequette's role.

 

[Deus Irae]

....And, as many have pointed out, no one here is suggesting replacing McCourtey with Reed. Much more like adding Andre Carter - to replace not Chandler Jones but Jake Bequette's role.

Pretty much this. To me, the question was not whether Reed could replace McCourty or Gregory, because he's clearly not up to snuff at the moment. To me, the questions were whether Reed could replace Harmon or Wilson by the time the playoffs came around, and whether there would likely be improvement in the hip by then. Anything else would be gravy.

Or, to put it another way....

Within the time frame of this season, any moves that keep a Bequette or a Wilson off the field (non-ST) are likely to be good moves.

 

[Rob0729]

Which doesn't mean Belichick would play him the same way the Texans did, or the way he played in Baltimore the first six-seven years of his career.

Reiss, I think, hypothesized that if Reed joined the Patriots the obvious role would be in Gregory's spot - which he pointed out was different, and potentially a better fit at this point in his career. The Texan's may have mis-used him as a centerfielder. He's more of a right fielder now - slower feet, more thump.

And, as many have pointed out, no one here is suggesting replacing McCourtey with Reed. Much more like adding Andre Carter - to replace not Chandler Jones but Jake Bequette's role.

The question is whether Reed could play the Gregory role. Gregory has been a pretty good tackler and playing up closer to the line of scrimmage. That really isn't Reed's bread and butter. I don't think Reed ever was a thumper. I think he would be miscast in that role too.

I just think Reed doesn't have much left in the tank. He is 35 and coming off a significant hip surgery and has been pretty injury plagued in the latter parts of his career. I think most of his problems have to do with age than miscast. This is a guy who has been rumored to be retiring for several years now because of all the tread on his tires.

I don't think it would have been a bad thing to bring him in here for depth, but I don't think it is the end of the world that the Pats' passed. I don't think he is a good scheme fit for what the Pats are doing right now and I don't think he has much left in the tank. He might prove me wrong on the second part.