Houston Texans: 5 moves we wish were April Fools jokes
By T.A. Mock
Bringing in Ed Reed and underutilizing him
This one is pure hindsight, of course, Ed Reed is one of, if not the, best safety the NFL has ever seen. He was a freak with the ball in his hands, which happened often. He just knew where the ball was going to be before the quarterback did. Reed is a stud, plain and simple.
All of this is evidenced by the fact that Reed was just elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame just a couple of months ago. So, when the opportunity came around to add the future HOFer, the Houston Texans would have been foolish to not jump at it, right?
The Texans signed the 35 year old Reed to a fairly large deal worth $15 million over three years. Reed was tasked with roaming the back end of the defense in Houston that needed a presence like his. They needed a few of 72 takeaways and 135 passes defended.
Instead, what they got was quite the opposite of that. He started five games for the Houston Texans and played in two additional games. In those games, Reed had absolutely zero production. He managed only 16 tackles and didn’t intercept a ball, recover a fumble, or deflect a pass. He was cut after the seventh game.
He then signed with the Jets for the remainder of the season and started five games and played in two more. The Texans got to watch him perform much better, intercepting three passes and deflecting four more. It would have been better if this were a joke and wiped out of team history.