3 Chiefs on Thin Ice Despite Convincing Win vs. Patriots in Week 15
By Joe Summers
3. Justin Reid - S
Reid is a good player, capable of delivering huge hits to stop runners in their tracks, though he's often out of position in coverage and the Chiefs' defense has struggled in recent weeks as a result.
Bryan Cook's injury a couple of weeks ago may have been a bigger hit than Chiefs Kingdom realized, as it appears he's the team's best coverage safety. Opposing tight ends have crushed the Chiefs since Cook went down and Reid appears to be the biggest culprit.
Hunter Henry had seven catches for 66 yards and a TD against the Chiefs and Reid rates below average per Pro Football Focus. Overall, he's not been worth the high salary he commands as the sixth-highest-paid player on the team.
Justin Reid leveled this huge hit on Hunter Henry. That looked painful. pic.twitter.com/pOZbOQCweI
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) December 17, 2023
At this point, I'd be surprised if Veach didn't explore getting out of Reid's contract in the offseason. Cook looks like a better player to build around and given the impending contract negotiations for players like Chris Jones, Creed Humphrey, L'Jarius Sneed and more, it makes sense to get Reid's hefty contract off the books.
He's still got time to correct his coverage mistakes, though Reid is certainly on thin ice if the secondary continues to struggle without Cook. That being said, if Reid can deliver hits like that while fixing his coverage breakdowns, it'll be hard to ignore his value.
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