Overview
Position: Safety
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 207 pounds
School: Stanford Cardinal
Combine Performance Data
40-yard dash: 4.4 seconds (second amongst safeties)
Bench press: 16 reps
Vertical jump: 36.5 inches
Broad jump: 10 feet, 8 inches (fifth amongst safeties)
Three-cone drill: 6.65 seconds (third amongst safeties)
20-yard shuttle: 4.15 seconds (third amongst safeties)
Justin Reid 2018 NFL Draft Profile
Born in Prairieville, LA less than 30 minutes from Baton Rouge, Justin Reid had quite a bit of pressure to attend LSU from his family. His father Eric Reid Sr. was an All-American track star for the Tigers and his older brother Eric was a starting safety from 2010-2012 for Les Miles‘ defense. Reid attended Dutchtown Prep and became a phenomenal football and track athlete at the high school level. He was named first-team All-State in football during his senior year while also earning All-State honors in track and field. He became a heavily recruited football prospect and was ranked the nation’s eighth-best safety by 247 sports in 2015.
Because he wanted to stay close to family, Reid narrowed down his college choices between LSU – because of its proximity to his home – and Stanford – because of the proximity to his older brother who then played for the San Francisco 49ers. Reid chose the latter and moved out to Palo Alto, CA to continue his football career less than 20 minutes away from his brother.
Reid saw minimal playing time his freshman season mainly playing special teams, but managed to end the year with 23 tackles and one interception. Sophomore year, Reid took on a bigger role in David Shaw‘s defense and flourished finishing the year with 55 tackles, seven pass deflections and four tackles for loss. Reid played up in the box a lot that year and proved to be a very reliable asset in the run game. He had an 11 tackle, three tackles for loss performance against the Oregon Ducks as he wreaked havoc on their run game. He finished the year as an honorable mention for the Pac-12 conference.
During his senior year, Reid became much more of a factor in defending the pass totaling up five interceptions and six pass deflections to go along with 94 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and one sack. Reid picked off passes from both Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen – two of the top prospects at the position – and had five games with nine or more tackles on the season. He went on to be named to the first team All-Pac-12 and the AP second-team All-American.
Strengths
- very solid tackler – wraps up well;
- made pre-snap adjustments frequently while at Stanford;
- has ideal size and athleticism for the position;
- versatile enough to play both strong and free safety;
- capable of playing up in the box and eluding blockers;
- displayed the ability to cover tight ends and slot receivers in man coverage;
- displayed the ability to be the deep safety in Cover 1 or Cover 3;
- has an impressive reaction time on run plays;
- has excellent ball skills;
- can high point the ball and win 50-50 balls at an elite level;
- plays with a physical style of play;
Weaknesses
- can be too aggressive and overpursue at times;
- gets beat often by slot receivers on shallow/short routes;
- can get grabby in coverage;
- falls for double-moves frequently;
- backpedal is mediocre;
NFL Comparison: Tony Jefferson
Teams With Need at Position: Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Kanas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington Redskins
Projection: Late first round
Bottom Line
Reid’s stock has been on the rise this off-season after an impressive NFL Combine. Like his older brother, he is capable of being a strong safety that plays a majority of the time up in the box or playing free safety and being the deepest defender on the field. At a time where the NFL has shifted towards a pass-happy league in which tight ends are heavily used in the passing game, versatile safeties like Reid are important and hard to come by. He should draw interest from a lot of teams and be a capable starter in his first season.
