Washington Football Team: Why missing out on Eric Reid isn’t a big deal
Eric Reid declined to join the Washington Football Team’s practice squad, but Washington won’t miss him too much.
After having one of his best statistical years in 2017, while splitting his time between safety, cornerback, and linebacker for the 49ers, Eric Reid waited and waited and waited for a new offer to come in.
Free agency came and went, and he was still waiting. The season started and… nothing. Crickets.
Mind you, this was after Bleacher Report ranked him the 10th best strong safety in the league.
"Eric Reid was good everywhere….Reid excelled in the box. He was aggressive against the run and didn’t miss too many tackles. He had no problem going out wide or playing in slot coverage, either. Look for the impending free agent to have a big impact for whoever he plays for."
I am not going to discount the fact that Reid may have remained a free agent for so long due to his politics, being the first player to kneel for the anthem alongside Colin Kaepernick, and his collusion grievance against the NFL.
However, in a sport where Tyreek Hill and Kareem Hunt are still gainfully employed and Josh Brown remained employed in spite of his actions, we all know performance on the field can trump everything else.
Reid continued waiting until Week 4 of the 2018 season when Ron Rivera and the Carolina Panthers called after the team suffered some injuries to their defensive backfield.
Eric Reid had a career year in 2017. He's finally found a new home with the Carolina Panthers. pic.twitter.com/nnfzfWJw4x
— PFF (@PFF) September 27, 2018
Rivera spoke highly of Reid after he was signed and believed he would be a good fit for the team.
"“Again, he’s come in, he’s in great shape, he’s a guy that’s really trying to learn and understand and fit in. And I think he will fit very well into what we do as a football team.”"
During Reid’s first year with the Panthers, his sixth year in the league, his game progressively declined from the previous season. He finished 2018 with 71 tackles, one interception, and one sack.
According to Pro Football Reference, during the 2018 season, quarterbacks completed only 57.1 percent of their passes against Reid, which put him among the top 20 safeties in the NFL. He gave up a 99.5 passer rating to quarterbacks throwing in his direction, which was a bit below average among safeties.
Reid did give up the fourth-most yards per completion among safeties though (17.9), while also missing 12.3 percent of his tackles. He ended the season with a 65.7 PFF rating.