© Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Reed was the Real Deal & We were Robbed
The Washington Redskins released former Pro Bowl tight end Jordan Reed on Thursday.
Despite those numbers, Washington fans will always wonder what-if?
Reed came to the Redskins back in 2013 as a third-round pick from the University of Florida. He was a Mike Shanahan selection. As a rookie, Reed was slated to back up Fred Davis and Logan Paulsen, but played in nine games, making four starts and finishing third on the team with 45 receptions for 499 yards and three scores.
While that was a dreadful campaign, Reed showed flashes of his immense potential that fans excited.
Reed was brilliant when he played, yet ended up missing seven games as a rookie, with several due to a concussion. It would be something that plagued him his entire career.
Jay Gruden took over as head coach in 2014 and the Redskins suffered through another miserable season. Reed would play in 11 games, making two starts and caught 50 passes for 465 yards.
The 2015 season was truly Reed’s breakout campaign. The Redskins would win the NFC East that season and Reed was a major reason why. The third-year tight end was a matchup nightmare, catching 87 passes for 952 yards and 11 touchdowns. Reed would start the playoff game against Green Bay, catching nine passes for 120 yards and a score.
It was during that season where Kirk Cousins took over as the starting quarterback and Reed was instrumental in Cousins’ success. Reed proved to be Cousins’ safety valve both in the short and intermediate passing game. While most remember DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon from that team, it was Reed who often was Washington’s No. 1 target.
Reed’s success in 2015 earned him a nice extension in May 2016, when he agreed to a new five-year deal worth $50 million, including $22M in guarantees.
Sadly, Reed would never come to close to his 2015 season again as he battled knee, toe and hamstring injuries as well as the seven documented concussions from his playing career. Reed didn’t play a game in 2019 after suffering a devastating hit in the preseason at Atlanta.
Reed played in 65 games out of a possible 112 games during his career. He never played a full 16-game season. Unfortunately, none of it was due to any fault of his own. Reed worked hard. There was a tremendous sense of optimism surrounding him heading into 2019 as he actually had a healthy offseason and appeared poised to get back to his previous form.
Injuries are a part of sports, especially football. We are often robbed of tremendous talents. Washington fans were certainly robbed of Reed and his enormous talent. A great player and teammate, who players and coaches loved, Reed didn’t just win with outstanding athleticism, but he was a premier route-runner with massive hands and he didn’t drop passes.
Had Reed been healthy for most of his career, we would’ve mentioned him in the same breath as Rob Gronkowski. And Reed didn’t have a Hall-of-Fame signal-caller.
It’s sad to see Jordan Reed depart Washington, but Redskins’ fans should be grateful for the glimpses they did get of Reed. Not much is known about Reed’s future, but he did reiterate, per John Keim of ESPN, he planned on playing in 2021. Wherever Reed goes, he deserves nothing but the best.
Bryan Manning has covered the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football and college basketball for almost 10 years for various outlets such as Bleacher Report, SB Nation, FanSided, USA Today SMG, and others. Bryan has covered the Washington Redskins for different outlets and currently co-hosts a podcast on the Virginia Tech Hokies for SB Nation. For his day job, Bryan works in engineering for a major communications company.
