Even grizzled 12 year NFL veterans can display some degree of sentimentality. In this instance, the grizzled veteran is Ed Reed and the sentimentality is evident in his decision to re-sign with Baltimore, where he spent all but the final season of an illustrious career, so he could retire as a Raven.
Reed left Baltimore after helping the Raven win the 2012 Super Bowl. In 2013, he played for the Jets and Texans before sitting out the entire 2014 season.
Of his decision, Reed said, “Home is Baltimore,” Reed said. “This is home. Baltimore, I love the city. I love this organization. I hope I did more than I was supposed to as a Raven.” The Ravens will place Reed in their Ring of Honor at halftime of the November 22nd game against the St. Louis Rams.
Reed finished his career with 531 tackles and 64 interceptions and forced 11 fumbles. He returned seven of those 64 interceptions for touchdowns a number that ranks 10th all-time in NFL history.
Interestingly, Reed’s decision to retire comes less than a month after Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu made the same decision. Polamalu’s and Reed’s careers have shadowed and mirrored one another over the last dozen seasons.
In another interesting twist, over the past 26 years, the NFL Hall of Fame has inducted only one player, Minnesota’s Paul Krause, who played his entire career at safety and who remains the NFL’s all time leader in interceptions with 81. That span has seen nearly half (147) of the 295 enshrined. Five years hence, will two safeties be sitting on the stage in Canton? Or if it is to be only one, which should it be.
Perhaps I should leave that to Dante Stallworth who played with Polamalu and against Reed. When he learned of Reed’s retirement, Stallworth sent out a stream of Tweets. One of them read in part, “Troy was great, but Ed Reed changed the game…”
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