The 49ers are still interested in re-signing free agent safety Eric Reid, but only for a backup role and on something close to a league-minimum salary, head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters, including Matt Barrows of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, Shanahan doesn’t believe Reid would interested in such an offer.
Reid has previously indicated that he’d accept a one-year deal from San Francisco, but only at his 2017 base salary of $5.676MM, so it’s highly unlikely he’d take a pact that pays less than $1MM. But it’s still unclear if and when Reid will receive a serious offer from a defensive-back needy club.
The NFL’s safety market has been stagnant this offseason, but Reid is likely also being rebuffed due to his intentions to kneel during the national anthem. Reid did take a visit with the Bengals earlier this year, but later filed a grievance after Cincinnati asked him about his anthem stance. He was scheduled to meet with the Titans earlier this month, but multiple flight cancellations prevented Reid’s visit.
Reid, 26, was something of a playmaker during his first two NFL campaigns, as he posted seven total interceptions from 2013-14. While he hasn’t kept up that rate of turnover creation, Reid is still a solid starter, and Pro Football Focus graded him as the league’s No. 30 safety a year ago.
I wish teams would come out and say that they aren’t interested in signing Reid bc he kneels for the anthem (and would be a distraction to the team). I doubt that isn’t the case. Dude can still play
Teams can’t say they are locking Reid out for his political stance because that would only strengthen the collusion case Kap has against the league. Teams instead will offer phoney offers that they know no sane player would ever accept. That way they can say “See, we aren’t trying to blackball these guys at all”.
Agreed that teams are avoiding him because of his stance. Furthermore, if he was to start, his salary request is also about $1M too high. Considering where teams are in the offseason, he will likely be a backup. In that case his salary demands are really out of whack.
Players have a hard time accepting reality. Dez Bryant is a classic example. Adrian Peterson quickly fell from grace, look at his new salary. The list goes on and on. Not saying Reid is excessive with his demands, but he doesn’t have a landing spot. So it about time he changes his tunes on the hard demands. As the article mentioned, safety isn’t a position that teams are fighting over players for right now.
If teams are avoiding him because of his stance, then why haven’t any of the kneelers this preseason been cut?
The league can’t act blatantly because that gives Kaepernick’s collusion case more strength. Of course there are subtler ways (injuries in particular) of getting rid of the players that the league feels are detrimental to the image they want to convey to the public.
Reid , even though he’s suffered through some injuries and concussions, still has a game solid enough to help a team out.
Although, with that being said, Reid is not the 30th best safety, like the PFF rankings suggest. The 49ers put Reid in favorable situations as a part-time safety, which makes his rankings look better than what Reid truly offers…Although, again if used correctly, the 49ers proved last season that Eric Reid is a more than capable situational player. Even so, the league has become so specialized every team could use an Eric Reid. He’s basically turned into a box safety that excels against the run, and he can excel in the right match ups/coverages when defending the pass…
Niners need to worry about the O line before backup safeties.