Outside of basic statistics, which can be misleading, Reid is doing a whole lot more on the field than what is normally expected from a rookie defensive back. Looking at game film, he’s turned out to be a leader and a signal caller for one of the most surprising secondaries in the entire National Football League.
Cornerback Tramaine Brock, who replaced an injured Nnamdi Asomugha in the starting lineup against the Houston Texans last week, took home NFC Defensive Players of the Week honors after intercepting two Matt Schaub passes. The photo (taken from NFL.com’s Rewind feature) shows Brock jumping an Andre Johnson route on a play that he’d eventually return for a touchdowns. On the surface, it appears that Brock did everything on his own here. He read the route and Schaub’s eyes, which eventually led to a early-game changing interception return for a touchdown.
Not to take anything away from Brock here, but Reid deserves an assist.
Here, you can see that Reid is motioning to the right side of the defense. His goal is to point out what’s happening as it relates to Houston’s offensive formation here. What you don’t see in this screenshot is that Reid is motioning directly at Brock, who in turn is looking for help in diagnosing Johnson’s plans on the upcoming play.
The following screenshot gives you a better idea…
It’s pretty obvious what is happening here. Reid is indicating for Brock to jump the route. The young cornerback did just that and picked Schaub off for an early-game touchdown. What’s even more interesting about this play is that Reid ended up being in position to stop Johnson for a short gain should Brock miss on the interception attempt.
You simply don’t see this type of intelligence and leadership on the field from a defensive back that had four previous regular-season NFL starts under his belt. And it isn’t just an exception to the rule, Reid has acted like a quarterback in San Francisco’s secondary when on the field. In doing so, he has started to remind me a great deal of future Hall of Famer Ed Reed. While not even coming closer to comparing a rookie to someone like Reed, it’s becoming apparent that Reid has that leadership ability in the back end of the defense.
In fact, there can be an argument made that Reid has actually been an upgrade over high-priced free-agent departure Dashon Goldson. This can be evidenced by the fact that Donte Whitner, who struggled terribly in coverage last season, is Pro Football Focus’ third-ranked safety thus far this season. While Goldson and Whitner played well together, they left a lot to be desired as a tandem in coverage. Simply put, this hasn’t been the case with Reid and Whitner through the first five games of the season.
While it remains to be seen which player has had more of an impact on the other, I will go on record indicating that they have meshed extremely well as a tandem in a ridiculously short period of time.
This is evidenced by the way San Francisco’s pass defense has played thus far this season.
All of this leads my to believe that Reid has actually played at a Pro Bowl level thus far this season. Where we could see some rookie struggles moving forward, his play through five games indicates that those will be an exception to the rule throughout the remainder of the season. It’s also important to take into account that San Francisco has taken on four playoffs teams from a season ago in its first five outings this year.
