Former Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed is arguably the best to ever play the position. While Reed was certainly known for creating big plays in the secondary, it was his football intelligence that helped create the Pro Football Hall of Famer’s career what it was. So, it makes sense that Reed would be a perfect fit with the headset on the sideline, right?
That’s exactly what Reed believes and he’s taken a few shots at it since retiring in 2015. Reed was hired by then-Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan as the team’s assistant defensive backs coach. However, it was only a one-year stint as Buffalo ultimately parted ways with Ryan and hiring Sean McDermott, who didn’t retain Reed on his staff. Reed joined his alma mater in 2020, hired as the team’s “Chief of Staff” under coach Manny Diaz.
In an interview with Baltimore Beatdown’s Kyle Barber, Reed said he’s still interested in coaching and has spoken to coach John Harbaugh. But he isn’t interested in just any role.
“I’ve talked to coach Harbaugh briefly at times, about things,” Reed said about whether he’s had conversations about joining the Ravens’ staff. “I’m not a position coach, man. I can coach position but no.”
It would seem like a position role would be perfect for Reed. He’s widely acknowledged as one of the best defensive backs to play football and would surely have a lot to teach young players. But Reed believes young players wouldn’t listen to him as a position coach, so he’s looking for a job a little higher up the ladder.
“[Young players] haven’t played the game and just won’t even hear my voice putting me at a position coach, Reed continued. “My voice won’t even be heard. So that’s why I tweeted about being a [defensive coordinator] or head coach. I know what I’m capable of, I know what I aspire for. You gotta know your worth.”
While Reed has certainly set his worth pretty high, it seems unlikely a team is going to hire him as either a defensive coordinator or head coach without more experience. We’ve seen plenty of great players who become terrible analysts and others that try to get into coaching only to struggle. If he’s already concerned about players not listening to him, that would probably be a pretty big red flag to any owner even remotely interested in handing the reins over to Reed.
It would be amazing to see Reed on the sideline in a purple polo with a headset on teaching the likes of Chuck Clark, DeShon Elliott, Marlon Humphrey, and Marcus Peters. But unless Reed becomes a little more realistic about his path to a coordinator or head coaching job, it’s probably not going to happen very soon.
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