BREAKING EXPECTATIONS
Former Cavalier Joe Reed might not be considered a must-draft player, but his running ability is likely to open more than a few doors
Former U.Va. star Joe Reed is banking on an all-around game being his ticket to the NFL, despite draft gurus pegging him as a late-round pick or an undrafted free agent.
By the beginning of April, Joe Reed had become adept at juggling different hats. At the outset of every video conference he had with somebody representing an NFL team, he always had to wonder which one they wanted him to wear.
His reputation as a gamechanging kickoff returner and a reliable wide receiver with speed to get away from defensive backs has been well-established. But there’s a new possibility if he is taken in the NFL draft Thursday through Saturday, or if he latches on as an undrafted free agent.
Not since his days as the fastest kid in Charlotte Court House, about 30 miles south of Farmville, has Reed been asked to be a ball-carrier first and put passcatching or kick-returning on the back burner, but that’s how some NFL organizations envision him. His future could be in the backfield.
“I’m kind of in a weird position,” said Reed, who ran for 2,100 yards and 38 yards in his senior season for Randolph-Henry
High. “It really depends on what a team wants, what a team sees in me.
“All my Facetime interviews have been different. Some have been with the running back coaches, some with the receiver coaches, some with the specialteams coaches, so it’s really hard to say right now. It really comes down to what team wants to take a chance and the needs of different teams when draft day comes.”
So, why the interest in giving a guy who ran a mere 34 times — mostly on sweeps — for 172 yards and a touchdown in college a crack at carrying the ball for a living at the highest level of football? Call it a hunch by some of the NFL’s principal evaluators, but Reed gives off a few clues that he could excel as a running back.
As a receiver, he showed not only the ability to run away from defenders in the open field, but also to plow through them at times. Measured at 6 feet and 224 pounds in February at the NFL combine, he’s seen as a slot receiver, but he possesses ideal
size for a running back to go along with elite speed, which he showed off by running the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds.
Throughout the predraft process, Reed has leaned on U.Va. wide receivers coach Marques Hagans for advice.
Hagans was a Hampton High alum who played quarterback, receiver and kickoff returner for U.Va. before he was taken in the fifth round of the 2006 draft by the St. Louis Rams. Hagans went on to play receiver and a little quarterback in the NFL for four teams — exactly the kind of player Reed could end up being.
“Coach Hagans tells me every day just enjoy the process, enjoy the experience and just do whatever
I can so I don’t have to look back and have regrets or wish I’d done something differently,” Reed said. “Coach Hagans is the perfect person to go to throughout this whole process. He played multiple positions, got drafted, played at Virginia, so he knows all the ins and outs of what’s going on. It’s easy to ask him questions about what’s going on now.”
Reed is an attractive candidate for a backfield experiment, and he comes with impressive credentials as a multi-faceted skill player. He’s the only player in Football Bowl Subdivision history to have more than 3,000 career kickoffreturn yards and average more than 28 yards per return — 28.7 in his case — and he led U.Va. last season with 77 catches for 679 yards and seven touchdowns.
Yet, he’s not exactly rocketing up draft boards in the eyes of the draft pundits. Most draft gurus consider him to be a likely late-round pick or an undrafted free agent.
Reed is banking on his all-around game being his ticket. As alluring as the speed-power combo could be to teams dreaming about him carrying the ball, it’s his ability to use the skills to excel in special teams that puts him in another category altogether for NFL teams.
“They love that,” Reed said. “As a rookie, special teams is important. That’s just the way it is. It’s always great to be (the starter or the top backup), but sometimes to get your foot in the door, you have to play special teams. I’ve been gifted with the ability to return kicks, so that’s definitely something that I’ll be able to do in the future.”
Norm Wood, 757-247-4642, nwood@dailypress.com