If D.J. Reed does not sound upset about being overlooked, it’s because he is used to it.
Out of Kansas State, Reed slipped into the fifth round in the 2018 draft. His first years with Robert Saleh’s 49ers, the now head coach for the Jets “screwed up” with Reed, Saleh said, by shoehorning the cornerback into a nickel corner spot. After two quiet seasons, Reed suffered a torn pectoral muscle and was waived ahead of the 2020 season. The Seahawks claimed him and, upon Reed returning to health, moved him back to the outside, leading to two solid seasons.
After signing a modest three-year, $33 million pact with the Jets, Reed has looked like a star — even if so much of the attention is on the other side, where rookie standout Sauce Gardner resides.
No, Reed said, he does not feel as if he has made a leap this season into the elite. He made a leap in the offseason — from Seattle to New York — and in the bigger market and on a quality Jets team, one of the better cornerbacks in football is beginning, slowly, to get his due.
“When I went out with Quinnen Williams to the [Knicks] game, people are saying your name, which I’m not used to,” Reed said Friday after Jets practice, referring to a late-October game at the Garden. “I’m only 5-9 — I look like a normal dude. So for people to notice that, it’s like, OK. People are definitely noticing me outside of football, which is pretty cool.”
The bits of recognition are deserved for a player who has been overshadowed much of his career and much of this season.
When Reed signed with the Jets in March, he raised eyebrows in comparing himself with the best corners in the game. The stats backed it up, as Pro Football Focus rated him the eighth-best cornerback in the NFL last season.
This season, Gardner has received most of the praise, but the Jets’ excellent pass defense has extended past their top corner. Gardner did not follow around Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson last week and will not shadow Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs this week.
By keeping Gardner on the right side and Reed on the left, regardless of where the opposing team’s top receiver lines up, there are fewer risks of being misaligned or getting lost in coverages, Saleh said. And the Jets are confident enough in their No. 2 corner when he matches up with No. 1 receivers.
In last month’s win over the Bills, Reed was paired with Diggs for most of the second half and did not allow a catch. Last week, he covered Jefferson — “arguably the best wide receiver right now,” Reed said — and limited the superstar, apart from a 10-yard touchdown pass. Reed received the most attention he has this season after the game in saying he was “in [Jefferson’s] s–t.”
Silencing Diggs again would garner a bit more notice for the 26-year-old, who is 20th best in football in allowing 5.3 yards per target.
“I definitely want to be the best at my position,” said Reed, who is making a strong case for his first Pro Bowl nod in his fifth season. “In order to do that, you have to go against the best guys in the league. And I feel like especially this year, man, the receivers that we’ve been playing have been phenomenal. … I do love those challenges and going against those guys.”
Much of the credit has gone to a defensive line that creates consistent pressure without blitzing and a top-shelf rookie cornerback who has a nickname and a reputation already.
Gardner “deserves all of the praise he’s been getting,” Saleh said. But on the other side of the field is a quiet, free-agent steal, who said his next step will be to start turning deflections into interceptions.
If that happens, Reed would have a tougher time walking around at Knicks games.
“He’s been so sticky in coverage that there’s nowhere to throw when you see his side of the field,” Saleh said. “He’s been fantastic.”