Reid focused on the task at hand
Rookie gets a chance to showcase the skills that might earn him a coveted starting spot
Darting around the Texans’ practice field with purpose, rookie safety Justin Reid kept breaking instinctively on the football.
Although it was a fairly routine session in terms of activity, the former Stanford secondteam All-American displayed the energy, enthusiasm and crisp reactions that prompted the Texans to make him their top overall draft pick.
As Reid participated in his first NFL practice, he maintained his primary focus on the task at hand: absorbing the Texans’ playbook and going about his job of impressing the coaching staff with his intelligence and hustle.
The third-round pick also paid tribute to his older brother: former San Francisco 49ers Pro Bowl safety Eric Reid.
Eric Reid filed a collusion grievance against the NFL last week, alleging that teams don’t want to hire him after he was one of the first players following former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to kneel during the national anthem as a protest against police brutality and shootings of African-Americans along with other social injustice issues.
The older Reid has stated that the Cincinnati Bengals during a free-agent visit asked him
whether he intended to continue kneeling during the national anthem.
Justin Reid expressed pride in his brother and the stance he has taken.
“You should just hold a conversation with him,” Justin Reid said when asked what he would tell NFL owners about his older brother. “Won’t speak for Eric, I’ll let him deliver his own message. But if you held a conversation with him, then you’ll really understand what he’s standing for. …
“I haven’t had a lot (of time) to digest it yet because I’ve been so focused on my own journey, getting prepared for the combine and then for the draft. Now, I’m moving on to a big chapter in my life, getting moved on with the Houston Texans. I haven’t had a lot of time, a lot of down time to really process my feelings on that.”
The two siblings and Louisiana natives are extremely close. When both were playing football in the Bay Area these past few years, they would hold film sessions where Eric Reid would detail how the 49ers would attack opposing offenses.
The NFL pedigree gives Justin Reid something of a leg up as he takes his initial steps into the league his brother has already excelled in.
“Eric, he mentors me a lot with how the NFL works,” Reid said. “We reviewed film and he let me in on what their game plan was against whatever team that they were going against and the things that worked in the NFL that don’t work in college and vice versa. So, that way I could come in with the mentality of an NFL, like a third-year player rather than that of a rookie.
“I kind of have a feel for how this process goes before having even gone through it. It’s still different going through it myself the first time, but it is nice having that rough road map about what’s going to happen in the future and how these things go.”
Competing for starting job
Reid is a big, fast safety at 6-1, 207 pounds. He has run the 40yard dash in 4.40 to 4.38 seconds and posted a 36½-inch vertical leap. He bench-pressed 225 pounds 16 times at the NFL scouting combine.
Reid is a former Louisiana allstate selection who went on to star at Stanford.
He’s expected to compete with Andre Hal for the starting free safety job.
“I want to impress them with the energy that I bring,” Reid said. “I want to impress them with my due diligence with how hard I’ve been reviewing the playbook, with how much that I know and how I can learn quickly, see how I can provide an impact early on.”
Reid recorded 99 tackles last season, five interceptions and 6½ tackles for losses and was named All-Pac-12 Conference.
The Texans are enamored of Reid’s athleticism, maturity and savvy.
“Good size, good speed, smart guy,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “Guy that’s a versatile guy, can do some different things, can help us on special teams, can obviously help us on defense. But he just got here so we’ll see how he does in our system moving forward here.”
Studied Texans’ defense
Signed to a four-year, $4.063 million fully guaranteed contract that includes a $1.039 million signing bonus, Justin Reid put in some overtime watching the Texans’ defense prior to his arrival in Houston.
“Before I came down here, I downloaded five of the most recent games,” Reid said. “I watched the Kansas City game, I watched the Patriots game, really to get a feel for the type of team and the type of guys that we have here, try to get a feel for the system, what I saw other players doing around me.”
Eric Reid has been training in California alongside Kaepernick, two prominent unemployed players who have filed grievances against the NFL. Kaepernick has been attending depositions of high-profile NFL luminaries, including one in Houston with Texans owner Bob McNair.
Justin Reid plans to compare notes with his brother about his initial days as an NFL player soon.
He was asked if his older brother is living vicariously through his experience.
“I guess, we’ll see what happens,” Reid said. “I haven’t talked to him that far. My first day coming out, so I was going to call him at the end of the day to let him know how it went.”