Here’s a primer on the newest member of the Cincinnati Bengals.
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According to reports Tuesday, the Cincinnati Bengals just made D.J. Reader the NFL’s highest-paid nose tackle.
So it’s time to get to know him.
Reader, 25, is one of the NFL’s emerging stars. He’s 347 pounds of almost confusing abilities, as he’s stout against the run but a great pressure-creator too — hence the 86.7 grade at Pro Football Focus last year.
On the pressure side, Reader played 58 percent of the snaps last year yet recorded 52 tackles with seven quarterback knockdowns, 12 pressures and two sacks.
There’s a reason he’s making north of $50 million. There’s a reason he was sixth on our free-agency big board. And there’s a reason he’s among the top 10 in WAR:
The #Bengals sign D.J. Reader, who was @PFF’s #2 free agent IDL and the #33 overall free agent in this class.
Reader is still just 25 and has been stout vs the run and developed as a pass rusher (36 pressures in ‘19)
He was worth 0.14 WAR last season, which was 8th among DI’s.
Reader makes the Bengals better, younger and causes a positive ripple effect on the rest of the defense. Missing on free-agent linebackers doesn’t hurt as much now.
The addition also means the Bengals can proceed as planned with a reduced role for Geno Atkins. A more specialized role for Atkins in Lou Anarumo’s front could make for a much more productive defense.
Put it all together and Reader is a good example of the Bengals potentially changing their ways in the pursuit of winning.
The Cincinnati Bengals landed a budding star in free agency Tuesday by signing former Houston Texans defensive tackle D.J. Reader.
The move was first reported by Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle and is for $53 million over four years.
Reader is one of NFL free agency’s underrated superstars as a massive 347-pound tackle who stands up well in the running game and also provides a great pass rush.
Doling out big money here is a big message sent by the Bengals, who seemingly recovered quickly from the Schobert whiff to land one of free agency’s biggest prizes on the defensive side of the football.
Former Texans defensive lineman D.J. Reader has agreed to sign with the Bengals.
Former Houston Texans defensive lineman D.J. Reader has agreed to sign a four-year, $53 million contract with the Cincinnati Bengals, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
The Denver Broncos were interested in Reader but his $13.25 million-per-year average might have been too costly for general manager John Elway. Seattle Seahawks pending free agent defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson remains an option for Denver.
Reader (6-3, 347 pounds) was selected by the Texans in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL draft out of Clemson. He totaled 72 tackles — including nine tackles for losses — and four sacks during his four years with the Tigers.
In Houston, Reader served mostly as a rotational defensive lineman as a rookie, totaling 22 tackles and one sack. He emerged as a full-time starter in 2017 and recorded 47 tackles and one sack.
Last season, Reader had a career year with 52 tackles and 2.5 sacks. He’s a nose tackle who is tasked with clogging up the middle of the field.
Reader has totaled 154 tackles and 6.5 sacks over the last four seasons.
It was 6 but the Patriots used the franchise tag on OG Joe Thuney
The free agent “legal tampering” period kicks off on Monday, with signings on new teams still scheduled to begin on Wednesday after 4 p.m. ET. The Detroit Lions have ample cap room to make a big splash in the free agency pool, if GM Bob Quinn and his staff so choose.
Will they make a splash? That remains to be seen. But if I were Quinn and making the decision on which toes to dip into the pool, here are the five targets I would prioritize to try and sign in Detroit in free agency.
I’m not necessarily chasing the biggest names or the sexiest players. I’m looking more for the next Glover Quin or Golden Tate, rising young talents earning a second contract that ties an emerging player to the Lions for the prime of his career. End-of-career stopgaps (think Jason Peters or Brandon Mebane) don’t much interest me and shouldn’t interest the Lions, either.
Remember, this is not a projection of who the Lions will sign. It’s what players I would sign if I were the Lions brass.
Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien spoke about defensive tackle D.J. Reader over the course of the 2019 season, and it showed how valuable Reader was.
The Houston Texans are on track to let defensive tackle D.J. Reader walk in free agency. With the legal tampering period set to begin Monday, Houston is on pace to lose their Pro Bowl alternate.
Over the course of the season, despite the hardball between coach Bill O’Brien, now full-time general manager, and Reader’s camp, the sixth-year coach has stated on numerous occasions throughout the 2019 season just how much Reader meant to the team.
Smart, tough, dependable
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
The day after the Texans lost 51-31 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional playoffs, O’Brien expressed how much of a priority it was to keep Reader as free agency was two months away.
“D.J. is definitely in that category of smart, tough, and dependable,” O’Brien said. “He’s been a really good player for us ever since the day he walked in here. So, we’re going to sit down with D.J., we’re going to talk and we’re going to try to do what’s best for both sides.
“We’ll see where that goes, but D.J. is just a — he’s an awesome guy, a guy that has played a lot of great football for us and that’s it.”
From Tom Brady to Amari Cooper to Philip Rivers, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar identifies likely fits for this year’s top NFL free agents.
There are all kinds of reasons players end up on new teams in free agency. The best reason, of course, is that a front office and a group of coaches will correctly estimate that the player fits perfectly in the new team’s set of schemes and concepts. Other teams prefer to take their existing cap space, throw stuff against the wall and see if anything sticks. No matter the reason, here’s where we think the top 21 players in the upcoming free-agent class will land.
This list doesn’t include players who have been given the franchise tag by their current teams, although those moves can lead to sign-and-trade deals — in the case of Jacksonville Jaguars edge-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, that scenario seems especially possible. And with Drew Brees saying that he’s coming back to the Saints and reportedly willing to take a below-market deal to do so, he’s off the list as well. These are the top 21 potential free agents at this point, and where we think they will land based on positional need, player value and team cap flexibility.
Tom Brady: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
(Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports)
It sounds crazy to some, but there’s no guarantee that Brady will be back with the Patriots after 20 fairly successful seasons. Following a frustrating 2019 campaign in which he struggled with timing and accuracy with receivers who couldn’t consistently gain separation, Brady fell short of the Super Bowl despite a Patriots defense that was one of the best in recent memory. One might assume the Patriots can improve that situation in the offseason, but what if Brady is simply looking for a change of scenery? He would require a team that is on a championship curve minus the quarterback, a group of receivers who can beat coverage and an offensive play-designer who can match Brady’s remaining talents with the right scheme.
The Buccaneers come in with a check-check-check scenario. Todd Bowles coordinated a defense that rose from dead last to fifth overall in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted metrics. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are one of the NFL’s most formidable receiving duos, and if you can get Bruce Arians to use his tight ends in the passing game, there’s the dynamic duo of Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard. When matching Brady and Arians together, as some observers have tried to do based on this Tampa Bay Times report that the Bucs are “all in” on the idea of Brady, many will cite Arians’ preferred deep passing attack and Brady’s supposedly dead arm. Well, last season, even with an underwhelming group of targets, Brady still completed 26 of 67 passes of 20 or more air yards for 749 yards, with seven touchdowns and three interceptions. Plus, Arians’ passing game is more than just a bunch of go routes — think more of three levels to the quarterback’s front side, and quick bailout routes to the back side.
So, when you consider alternate accommodations for Tom Brady, Tampa Bay is definitely one destination to consider.
Houston Texans defensive tackle D.J. Reader could end up in the AFC East as the Buffalo Bills are rumored to show interest in the defensive lineman.
The Houston Texans are running up against the deadline for free agency on March 18, and it seems more and more likely defensive tackle D.J. Reader will get away.
As the question of if Reader leaves becomes more certain, the new inquiries of where the former 2016 fifth-round pick will end up become more abundant.
Reader has been incredibly healthy in his career, playing in at least 14 games in all four of his seasons. In 61 career games, he has 154 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, and 6.5 career stats. In 2019, he improved his pass-rushing skills, as he recorded 2.5 sacks and 13 QB hits. Prior to the season, he had 11 total career QB hits in his first three seasons combined.
If the Texans let Reader go to the Bills, the good news is they would not see him until 2021, or unless they drew Buffalo in the playoffs.
How the Texans filled the void left by Reader would be another story. Currently, they have Brandon Dunn wrapped up with a three-year contract. However, they will need to address defensive tackle in free agency or in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Former Auburn Tigers defensive tackle Derrick Brown plays similarly to the Houston Texans’ D.J. Reader.
Former Auburn Tigers defensive tackle Derrick Brown may go in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and part of it is because of how similarly he plays like D.J. Reader.
Carter Donnick of The Draft Network took a look at the top prospects in the draft, and his immediate comparison for Brown was the Houston Texans’ defensive tackle, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on March 18.
Donnick sees Brown as more of a run-stuffing nose tackle, like Reader, rather than a pass-rushing threat. Nonetheless, there is still value to be had if a team takes Brown, even in the first round.
However, he’s still a nose tackle and one that simply doesn’t impact the game much because of the position he plays. It’s fairly easy to find defenders who can routinely clog the middle, even if a rare few can do it as well as Reader. Derrick Brown, despite his completely dominant film, is the same way. After displaying average athleticism at the combine, I don’t see the type of elite pass-rush upside he needs to warrant a high draft selection, which makes him a reach as a top-10 pick. Anywhere outside of that range continues to be tremendous value for Brown, but his price tag is something teams must be very cautious about.
Could the Texans get Brown? Unlikely — the Texans’ first selection of the draft comes at No. 57 overall deep in the second round. Brown won’t fall that far. If the Texans allow Reader to test the open free agent market, which could be the case, then they will have to beef up their defensive tackle situation either in free agency or the draft. Currently, they have Brandon Dunn locked up with a three-year contract. However, the Texans still need quality depth along the interior of their defensive line.
