Atlanta Falcons: Where does Brooks Reed fit into the defense?
When the Atlanta Falcons signed free agent Brooks Reed to a 5-year deal worth $22 million in 2015, they were planning on him being their starting strong side linebacker. But that isn’t really how things have worked out.
Reed played SAM linebacker very sparingly after starting his first season in Atlanta with a nagging hip injury. The majority of the reps went to O’Brien Schofield who is no longer on the team. So that would mean Reed would take over his original job as the starting SAM? Wrong.
That job now belongs to Vic Beasley who will be making the position switch from LEO defensive end to SAM which means Reed’s role in the defense is up in the air.
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One thing is very clear, though. Reed has had a terrific offseason up until this point and has cut down on his body fat. Reed appeared at OTA’s several pounds lighter and has been running faster than he was at this point last year.
With his weight loss, that could mean a few different things. It could mean that he is gearing up to play inside linebacker rather than outside. And it could also mean that he gets looks at the vacant LEO spot. Dan Quinn himself said that they would give him some looks at LEO and that is pretty eye-opening.
Just because the Falcons have made a lot of chances to their defense doesn’t mean Reed isn’t still a big part of their future plans. You don’t hand someone a contract that large for no reason. He had an injury-rittled first season with Atlanta but he’s healthy and ready to go.
Everyone is sleeping on Reed at this point. He has quickly been written off as the forgotten man but that won’t last for long. Wherever he lines up this upcoming season, expect him to be much better than he was last year.
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Atlanta needs his veteran presence in what will be one of the top 5 youngest defenses in the NFL.