It’s been seven years since Ed Reed played for the Houston Texans in a move that nobody wants to remember.
Reed was inducted into the Hall of Fame a year ago, and although he is 41-years-old, he truly thinks he’d still be playing football today if he never left the Ravens for the Texans after the 2012 season.
During a recent conversation with Bleacher Report’s Master Tesfatsion — Reed took a shot at the culture of the Texans’ organization, bringing up the “inmates running the prison” remarks that former team owner Bob McNair reportedly made in 2017.
“When I went to Houston, it took me back to the South and it was so discouraging,” Reed said. “If y’all remember, rest in peace to him, Bob McNair, but out of respect, if y’all remember when we were going through certain things in the NFL, you remember he said you can’t let the prisoners run the prison. He was the guy to say that. I saw that before. I saw that when I was there. …
“The ‘Houston way’, so to say, that they called it. It’s not the city, it’s the organization at the time. And they had that old school mentality. You had coaches talking reckless to guys. I’m like, ‘As a grown man, how do you let that happen?’ Plus, as a coach, you’re not going to get everything out of that man that you want because you’re talking to him reckless. I was surrounded by a bunch of guys just coming to work. It was a job. It wasn’t football anymore, and for me that was draining.”
Gary Kubiak was the head coach at that time, and their general manager was Rick Smith.
According to Reed, the Texans lied to him in free agency.
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“You actually brought me in, recruited me, and asked me to tell you the things that I’m telling you,” Reed said. “And when I started saying that stuff, they shrugged me off. It was like, ‘Nah, that’s not how we do it.’ So I was lied to. I’m too old to be lied to and I’m too old to play these games with people who say you’ve got to play the game to get higher. I’m not playing the game. I ain’t got time for that. I’ll go do something else.”
After getting released, Reed landed with Jets and also played in seven games for them.
“If I’d have stayed in Baltimore I’d still be playing today,” Reed said. “I know so. … Because I had everything going the right way. I had my doctor, training, everything.”
