Which teams would be the best suitors for Justin Reid?
With the news of Justin Reid having reportedly violated team rules, the Houston Texans coaching staff decided to declare him a healthy scratch from Sunday’s game vs. the New York Jets.
Reid joined Deshaun Watson as the other healthy scratch on the roster.
It’s a hard pill to swallow for Houston Texans fans, as Reid has virtually been the team’s best player in all aspects. With this sudden rift between Reid and David Culley, the team’s head coach, the end of Reid’s tenure may be in sight.
So who are the teams that would be the best fits for the Texans’ star safety? Before the trade deadline, I previously wrote that Reid would be a great fit for the Kansas City Chiefs. While they are certainly still a viable option, what other teams could be on the market for one of the last remaining stars of the Texans team?
After a spat like this, the chances of Justin Reid returning to the team are minimal. As Reid is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the season (per Spotrac). The only way Reid would stick around is if he is tagged in any sort of way by means of the franchise or transition tag.
The 2022 values for those two ranges are from $11-$13M, as OverTheCap reports. Would Reid demand that kind of a contract come March of 2022? Some teams may throw him the big check, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see a middle-of-the-road deal for Reid.
With the cap hits out of the way, let’s take a look at which teams could benefit from signing Reid, ranked from least to most likely.
Third-most likely Justin Reid destination: The Detroit Lions
With the Detroit Lions being the only team in the NFL that’s worse off than the Texans, any quality free agent would fill a big need up in the Motor City. Detroit has had a handful of young and unproven talent play at the safety position the past few seasons. Reid could end up making a nice pair with former first-round draft pick Jeff Okudah.
Their current safeties, Will Harris and Tracy Walker III have allowed quite a bit of passing yards, with Harris surrendering over 300 yards and a 72.7% completion rate. No one is perfect, but that completion rate is pretty high. Competing inside a division that features Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, and Adam Thielen requires a playmaker to keep a lid on things.
Detroit does have ~40M in cap space, so if they wanted to give a big payday for Reid, they certainly could do it. Dan Campbell is more of a players coach than David Culley, although both have their struggles this season. There’s a reason Detroit comes in at number three on this list.
Reid could be a big free-agent signing that slowly helps change the culture in Detroit, but Reid may not have the patience for that after enduring back-to-back losing seasons.
Justin Reid’s second-most likely landing spot: The Baltimore Ravens
The 2021 Baltimore Ravens are the new 2020 San Francisco 49ers- that is in terms of how bad the injury bug has plagued them this year. Losing anyone to a torn ACL is devastating, but when it’s a starting corner (Marcus Peters) it looked to be a bad omen. On top of that, the injury to safety DeShon Elliott also complicates things that much more
Despite everything that’s happened to them, the Ravens are currently the number one seed in the AFC with an 8-3 record. That doesn’t mean that the defense is impervious to improvements. Baltimore ranks 3rd in terms of most passing yards allowed, with 3,033 yards. The only two teams ahead of them are the Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins.
Justin Reid could be plugged in as the starting free safety, replacing incumbent starter Brandon Stephens, making a great one-two punch with Chuck Clark. Add in Peters’ return next season and Marlon Humphrey also there, and Baltimore would have one of the best secondaries in the NFL.
Baltimore has ~20M in cap space, and that’s before resigning any of their free agents. Reid could end up in Baltimore and help Lamar Jackson control the game more with the ball in his hands.
The Kansas City Chiefs are still the top landing spot for Justin Reid
As mentioned earlier, the Chiefs are still the top destination for Justin Reid. If there was ever a fanbase who clearly disliked one of their safeties on the team, it’s definitely the fans of the Chiefs. For the Chiefs to keep Tyrann Mathieu, who is set to be a free agent himself at the end of the year, bringing in Reid may just be a factor in making him stay.
Mathieu has been seen with arms in the air as opposing receivers gain yards on Sorenson or any of his teammates in the Chiefs’ secondary. Without Mathieu, do the Chiefs have enough firepower to keep playing closer games?
More reasons for why Reid fits can be seen here. Kansas City heads into the 2022 season with ~31M in cap space, and they aren’t having a ton of contributors set to hit free agency. Mathieu should be their biggest priority, and maybe Reid gets to be included in that free agent signing as well.
Justin Reid playing for Andy Reid would be a welcome change, as a simple disagreement shouldn’t end in a benching of a player. Regardless of where Reid goes, just about anywhere is better than Houston.