Afterwards, Seahawks rookie safety Jerrick Reed got his hands on one of them.
It seems every time the Seahawks visit the Lions they get into a shootout. Last year, Seattle survived a 48-45 matchup early in the season, with Jared Goff and Geno Smith trading touchdowns right up until the end. While yesterday’s game wasn’t quite as high-scoring, it was nevertheless another close game with a wild ending.
Ford Field was rocking throughout the contest, courtesy of a fanbase that hasn’t had much to get excited about these last 30 years. Lions DB C.J. Gardner Johnson goaded them on further by encouraging fans to bring blue ski masks to the game.
Afterwards, Seahawks rookie safety Jerrick Reed got his hands on one of them, put it on and went live on social media from the locker room, which was positively jubilant. Watch.
Seattle has remained competitive this morning thanks to their defense
The Seattle Seahawks are slugging their way through the third and final preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. After two weeks of surprisingly thrilling games, this preseason finale looks like… well… a preseason game.
If you are a fans of punts, then this exhibition game is for you.
The Seahawks have trailed the Packers the entire game, but are keeping it close with a score of 12-7. Seattle has remained competitive this morning thanks to their defense, and plays like this from rookie safety Jerrick Reed II:
Every draft pick represents an individual with their own story and journey to the league.
If there is one position group the Seattle Seahawks have an abundance at, it is safety. The group is headlined by pro bowler Quandre Diggs, the return of Jamal Adams, and newly signed free agent Julian Love from the New York Giants.
Despite the seemingly crowded safety room, the Seahawks invested one of their draft picks on Jerrick Reed II from New Mexico.
Every draft pick represents an individual with their own story and unique journey to the league. Reed is certainly no different, and shares his tale below:
Jerrick Reed II on how his unique path being underrecruited, overlooked as a prospect to the #Seahawks has positioned him for NFL success. pic.twitter.com/SAJveS2Rqc
As has been the theme all day with the Seahawks, fans are still pleased.
The Seattle Seahawks have added yet another safety to their secondary this offseason. After signing former New York Giants safety Julian Love in free agency, the Seahawks drafted New Mexico standout Jerrick Reed II in the 6th round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Jerrick Reed II actually visited with Seattle during the pre-draft process, so it seems the meeting went exceptionally well. Now, Reed II joins a crowded safety room and suddenly suffocating secondary.
As has been the theme all day with the Seahawks, fans are still pleased.
New Mexico safety Jerrick Reed II was one of the top players on Danny Gonzales’s Lobo teams over the past few years and he has a very good chance at making an NFL roster and playing on Sundays. The program hasn’t had an athlete selected in the NFL Draft since 2018, though, so can Reed change the school’s recent fortunes?
Reed is a very athletic safety prospect, an outstanding run defender who quickly locates the football and makes plays up the field. He’s developed a reputation as a ballhawk during his college career, being always at the right play at the right time with a nose for the football. He has center-field range, but he is also not afraid to come down and make a tackle in run support and brings physicality to that element of the game.
To that end, it’s worth noting that according to Pro Football Focus, he tied with Fresno State’s Evan Williams for the best run defense grade among Mountain West safeties last year at 82.4 and stood alone with 33 stops.
In 2020, his four interceptions led to his first-team All-Mountain West honors. He followed that up in 2021 with an all-conference honorable mention and led the Lobos with 12 pass breakups last year. This young man is intelligent and has some serious football IQ.
His film demonstrates a capacity to play all over the defensive backfield, too: In his career with the Lobos, Reed played over 1,000 snaps out of the slot and over 500 at free safety. Additionally, his pro day workout showed that he is a tremendous athlete, on par with the top performers at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. His broad jump, for example, would have ranked eighth in this year’s combine class while his vertical jump would have been fifth and his 40-yard time third.
Weaknesses
Reed is undersized when compared to nearly every other safety prospect save for Illinois’s Sydney Brown. While he has a well-proportioned frame, he does lack some length. Because of his lack of size, he can sometimes be blocked from the action or run himself out of plays, as was noted by Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline.
NFL Comparison
Oddly enough, he has a remarkably similar stature to former UNM safety Glover Quin, who was a fourth-round draft selection back in 2009. Quin played in the NFL for the Houston Texans (2009-2012) and Detroit Lions (2013-2018).
When UNM Lobo Defensive Coordinator Troy Reffitt (who coached both Reed and Quinn) was asked about the similarities: “Both have really good football IQ, spent extra time studying opponents and both exhibit a great love for the game.”
Draft Prediction
Reed is an athletic prospect with speed and range to play on Sundays. Though he needs to improve his strength, he has some potential to make an NFL squad later in the draft process. His athleticism and ball skills make him a potential contributor on special teams and a rotational player on defense. Time will tell where he ends up in the draft and what impact he will make on an NFL team, but both the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs have expressed interest in Reed.
Based on Reed’s college performance and scouting reports, I think he is likely to be selected in the later rounds of the draft.
Here are 13 potential safety targets for the Seahawks in the draft, including the four who they have held official meetings with.
On paper the Seahawks look like the last team in the NFL that would need to draft a safety this year. With Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams and Julian Love likely starting they definitely have the strongest and most expensive safety room in the league. However, Seattle’s front office has already met with several safety prospects in the 2023 draft class. It also sounds like they will be deploying a lot more three-safety sets, so we definitely can’t rule it out.
Here are 13 potential safety targets for the Seahawks in the draft, including the four who they have held official meetings with.
The focus on safety is a peculiar decision by Seattle, and it has been an ongoing theme this spring.
The Seattle Seahawks are ramping up daily for the 2023 NFL Draft, and one of their goals will certainly be to fix one of the NFL’s worst defenses from last year. It doesn’t take much an expert to notice Seattle’s defense was a liability for the Geno Smith-led offense.
Part of this pre draft process will include a visit from safety Jerrick Reed II from the University of New Mexico. The Lobos prospect will visit with the Seahawks, and the reigning Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs.
.@UNMLoboFB S Jerrick Reed II has Top 30 visits scheduled with #Chiefs and #Seahawks, per league source.
Reed had an outstanding Pro Day 40: 4.46 (Tied for 3rd among S at combine) Bench: 18 reps VJ: 38” (👀👀 5th at combine) Broad: 10-2 (8th at combine) 3C: 7.16 SS: 4.31
The focus on safety is a peculiar decision by Seattle, and it has been an ongoing theme this spring. The Seahawks turned more than a few heads by signing former New York Giants safety Julian Love. Seattle also gave in-house restricted free agent Ryan Neal a right of first refusal tender. Not to mention, the team has already hosted Minnesota safety Jordan Howden for a pre draft visit.
With all the attention at safety, it still begs the question: what does the future of Jamal Adams in the Emerald City look like?
The #Chiefs are set to host UNM Lobos S Jerrick Reed II on a top-30 visit per report.
The Kansas City Chiefs continue to bring players in for top-30 visits, this time hosting a standout from the Mountain West Conference.
According to The Draft Network’s Justin Melo, the Chiefs are scheduled to have New Mexico S Jerrick Reed II in on a top-30 visit. A First Team All-Mountain West Conference selection back in 2020, Reed became the first Lobos defensive back to earn a First-Team All-Conference selection since Glover Quin back in 2008.
Reed has developed the reputation of a ballhawk during his college career. He has centerfield range, but he’s also not afraid to come down and make a tackle in run support. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 192 pounds, Reed has 266 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, seven interceptions, 21 passes defended and one defensive touchdown since 2019. His pro day workout showed that he’s a tremendous athlete, on par with the best invited to the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.
.@UNMLoboFB S Jerrick Reed II has Top 30 visits scheduled with #Chiefs and #Seahawks, per league source.
Reed had an outstanding Pro Day 40: 4.46 (Tied for 3rd among S at combine) Bench: 18 reps VJ: 38” (👀👀 5th at combine) Broad: 10-2 (8th at combine) 3C: 7.16 SS: 4.31
Even adding Mike Edwards via free agency, the Chiefs are unlikely to be done adding at the safety position. Reed could be a late-round pick or a priority undrafted free-agent addition for Kansas City.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term top-30 visit, these are pre-draft visits that NFL teams are allotted as a way to get to know draft prospects better. Prospects will be brought to Kansas City and have a chance to meet with position coaches and front office executives. On occasion, they’ll get a chance to meet with a few players who are working at the team facility. Some players are brought in to get more medical information on injuries sustained in college, while others are brought in to see if they’ll fit with the team culture. In cases of players like Reed, this may simply be an opportunity for the team to sell him on joining the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent should he not be selected in April’s draft.
It’s always tricky to guess which Falcons might be enticed to chase the NFL dream after their time at the Academy, but running back Brad Roberts might consider it if he can duplicate his 2021 season. It isn’t often that a fullback leads Air Force in rushing, let alone the entire Mountain West, but that’s what Roberts did in piling up 1,357 yards and 13 touchdowns on a conference-high 297 carries. He’s a bruiser with enough acceleration to warrant a look as a short-yardage back in the NFL, if nothing else.
In the mix: Zion Kelly, CB; Kyle Patterson, TE; Vince Sanford, LB
Boise State
Pass catchers beware when Broncos safety JL Skinner is in the vicinity. At 6-4 and 220 pounds, he’s earned a reputation as a hard hitter with the range to make plays just about everywhere on the field. In 2021, he collected 92 total tackles, seven tackles for loss and two interceptions, so another big year patrolling the defensive backfield is all but guaranteed to put him on a few big boards by this time next year.
Finally, now that JL Skinner is officially coming back, I’ll just leave this here.
In the mix: Hank Bachmeier, QB; Stefan Cobbs, WR; George Holani, RB; Shane Irwin, DL; Scott Matlock, DL; John Ojukwu, OT
Colorado State
Wide receiver Dante Wright wasn’t always at 100% during the 2021 season, but he remained one of the Rams’ most reliable targets and could be the primary beneficiary of Jay Norvell’s Air Raid offense. The former freshman All-American hasn’t lost any of his potency — he caught at least four passes in every game he played last year and has done so in all but two career games — and could very easily be 2022’s Deven Thompkins if everything breaks right.
In the mix: Cam’ron Carter, LB; Dequan Jackson, LB; Melquan Stovall, WR
Fresno State
Most college football fans remember Jake Haener‘s late-game exploits against UCLA last September, but the Bulldogs quarterback built a strong case throughout all of last year as the best signal-caller in the Mountain West. In throwing the ball nearly 38 times a game, Haener completed 67.1% of his passes for 4,096 yards and 33 touchdowns, also managing a reasonable 1.8% interception rate. While he may not fit the typical NFL quarterback mold (6-1, 195 pounds), his moxie and arm should give scouts plenty to keep an eye on.
In the mix: Dontae Bull, OT; Jalen Cropper, WR; David Perales, DE; Evan Williams, S
Hawaii
Since breaking into the starting lineup as a true freshman back in 2018, defensive tackle Blessman Ta’ala has been a quiet force in the trenches for the Warriors defense, earning a pair of all-Mountain West honorable mentions in 2019 and 2020 and, according to Pro Football Focus, posting a career-best 75.3 grade last season. His ability to eat up space is something not just anyone can be taught, so he might be an example of how the stat sheet doesn’t tell you the whole story.
In the mix: Ilm Manning, OT; Dedrick Parson, RB; Solo Vaipulu, G; Micah Vanterpool, OL
Nevada
Defensive tackle Dom Petersondidn’t have to rejoin the Wolf Pack for one last season, but you can bet fans will be glad he did. Perhaps the best interior defender anywhere in the Mountain West, Peterson has now made 40 starts for Nevada and picked up 22 sacks and 41.5 tackles for loss. Not only could another dominant year put him in the conversation as the program’s best defensive lineman ever, it could entrench him as a prospect to watch.
In the mix: Aaron Frost, OL; Toa Taua, RB; Tyson Williams, S
New Mexico
After leading the Mountain West with four interceptions in 2020, Lobos safety Jerrick Reed II put together another solid campaign last fall and led the team with 92 tackles. He also tied for the team lead with seven pass breakups, moving around the defense to do whatever it took to make stops and bolstering his bonafides as a sure tackler with reliable hands.
