The Houston Texans are losing another dynamic safety in free agency to the Kansas City Chiefs.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Justin Reid intends to sign a contract with the Chiefs for three years worth $31.5 million with $20 million guaranteed. The deal comes on the same day that the Texans and safety Terrence Brooks reached a deal.
The former 2018 third-round pick’s final season in Houston started out promising as he picked off two passes, broke up three others, forced a fumble, and collected 20 combined tackles through his first four games of the season. However, Reid finished with 66 combined tackles, two tackles for loss, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and a forced fumble with 13 games played, all of them starts.
Reid was also declared inactive for Week 12 against the New York Jets for disciplinary reasons. The Texans fired coach David Culley at the end of the season and defensive coordinator Lovie Smith told reporters on March 2 at the NFL Scouting Combine that he would love to have Reid back.
“Justin Reid is an outstanding player,” said Smith. “I’ll start off with that. Being with him of course one year, he’s a football guy. He wants to know every little detail about why we do things. I love that in a football player. He fits the profile.
“When you get in the NFL and you play the amount of time he has and you get an opportunity to be a free agent, so you’re excited for him in that sense. But the business part takes care of itself. We’ll be pretty happy if Justin ends up coming back with us.”
The business part took care of itself, and the former Stanford product is now in Kansas City. Reid won the 2019 Ed Block Courage Award, which is voted upon by the players, indicating the respect Reid had in the locker room throughout his 57-game tenure.