PFF sucks, but regardless, JR has been fantastic the last 1/3 of the season, IMO

Reid is a solid but unspectacular football player.

That's the nature of 'good' football players. The difference between them and GREAT football players is that the good ones have more ups and downs.

I don't think a light came on - he's just not a guy who's going to be great every week. He'll be great some weeks, bad in others. Because that's just what you get with good players instead of great ones.

And that's fine - good is what we paid for. And it's what we're getting.

I think this is fair but the consistency has been less up and down through the year imo and more - first half of the season bad, last few games good. Might not mean anything of course.

Sure - I just think it's more likely that it's fortunate timing than anything.

I don't expect that he'll come out next year at this same level of performance, for example. I don't think he's suddenly 'locked in' to the defense. I think he's just found a bit of a zone and he's playing good ball right now.

Ideally he has 3 more games of that in him. I just wouldn't take it to the bank.

Neither of our safties takes the ball away nor do they often get to qb on a blitz. They don't force or recover fumbles. We could improve at the position but I am not unhappy just wish they were ball Hawks.

For sure, I think I was more cautious than most on his signing but it's nice to see a few games strung together at this point in the season. I'm probably on the same page as you.

Thornhill has good ball skills but bad hands and bad luck.

I think he's had 2 picks taken away this year because of penalties and 2 more that have been dropped.

Just give him the 2 picks on penalties (which we universally agreed were bullshit) and he's up to 5. That qualifies as ball-hawkish.

Now Reid - that's just never been his game. Dude has 30 PBUs in his career and only 7 interceptions (by contrast, Thornhill has 8 picks on 20 PBUs). He's just not a guy that's going to make a play on the ball. If a ball comes right to him, he'll probably catch it. But he's not gonna bait a QB and undercut a route. He's going to take the 'safe' approach and just make the stop rather than run the risk of missing the pick and giving up extra yards.

Would you be even a little bit surprised to see Juan pick a ball or even two off in this post-season? I wouldn't. I would, however, be shocked to see Reid get one unless it's on a deflection or a blown route.

Thornhill has 3 picks Reid 1 Snead 3 Bolton 2 Gay 1 and Williams and Watson 1 each thats it for team.

Thornhill and Reid haven't forced or recovered any fumbles.

Thornhill and Reid have 1 sack apiece.

Not awful but wouldn't mind upgrades, particularly a strong safety that is feared over the middle.

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IMrTx5jjTYk" title="Willie Gay PICK 6 off Russell Wilson" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

love the willie gay interception ROFL ****ing trucks that weirdo russell wilson on the way to the endzone LMAO

bonus the camera panning over to the bench and showing Kelce's reaction
https://i.imgur.com/ehqnzwt.png

Just saw that today. He's certainly looked much better than past month or so.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justin Reid had 14 missed tackles this season. Only one of them came after the Bengals game. He&#39;s been on a mission since that game. I&#39;m here for it.</p>&mdash; Daniel Harms🏈 (@InHarmsWay19) <a href="https://twitter.com/InHarmsWay19/status/1615163058279616518?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justin Reid against the Bengals this season in 88 coverage snaps allowed only 3 receptions for 15 yards. He did what he said he would do...</p>&mdash; Chiefs Hive (@chiefshive) <a href="https://twitter.com/chiefshive/status/1620446424671584257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I loved this signing the minute they did it. Yeah, it took him a bit to get acclimated but he's been awfully good the past couple of months.

Just like with the rookie DBs. People have been talking a ton of shit about all of them in the middle of the season. They aren't saying shit now.

Reid is Mathieu without the bullshit God complex or the business decisions. He was the perfect signing for this defense.

He's looked really good recently. Hell, hes been more than acceptable the whole season. He's being paid the 15th highest safety contract which is extremely affordable. Hell of a signing by Veach.

His deal reminds me of the MVS deal.

He was a younger veteran who'd underperformed a little but showed some intriguing tools. We were able to get him on a reasonably inexpensive deal with medium term that had some upside built into it out of the second wave of free agency.

Those kinds of deals can really help us maintain roster depth because we can layer them over 2-3 year periods. Get another guy or two like Reid/MVS this off-season on relatively inexpensive deals for younger veterans who could outperform their previous levels and suddenly you're really lean and efficient on this roster.

I'd have to take a longer look at the available FAs before I made a call on who could be that guy for us this off-season, but someone like Darius Slayton seems to fit. Davenport's probably too expensive to qualify there and Zach Allen was probably too good but maybe someone like Dawuane Smoot?

Here's a play where Reid doesn't show his hand before the snap and it leads to Karlaftis getting a sack. Kind of thing that would never show up on the stat sheet.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Next sack was Burrow not seeing it clearly.<br>Chiefs hold their rotation right until the snap. I think Burrow was going to take the out route to Hurst, but the safety is screaming down. <a href="https://t.co/e4YtymySmZ">pic.twitter.com/e4YtymySmZ</a></p>&mdash; Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeGoodberry/status/1620134028870549505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Nice

Once he learned the defense, he’s been nails.

Crazy this was billed as a step back year and we are bs k I’m the SuperBowl.

He's just the opposite of Tyrann on the field.

Doesn't take many gambles. Isn't loud, but is almost always on his assignment.

Ideally you could have the best of both worlds, but Cook sure stepped up in that way on Sunday.

Imagine how they may have looked with Sneed. I'm not saying Williams did bad but he doesnt do a lot of things sneed does to confuse qb's.

He's been much better than I thought he would be. Same with MVS. Think I underappreciated both, but ultimately trust Beach.

Exactly.

Ball hawking just isn't his game and it never has been. He's going to get his rare interceptions on miscommunications and/or deflections. He's just not a guy who's all that interested in trying to make a splash play on the ball.

He's going to look to make the stop. Maybe on occasion he'll look to get a hand in there, but more likely he's just gonna be there to be a last line of defense and mitigate the damage of a positive play by keeping it in front of him. Really, it's a wholly defensible approach for a safety.

I'll admit, I was pretty high on the MVS signing and had to tone that down quite a bit as the season progressed because he seemed so streaky. But then I realized that's just the nature of the offense now. Nobody is going to get 8-10 catches every week except Kelce.

And then he put in that performance on Sunday. :D

That's why they call them "safeties" to begin with. :thumb:

He seems to have that hunger that Mathieu lost last year.

I think his intelligence is underrated some. He is the QB of the secondary and his ability to get our rookie DBs in the right position is underrated.

Cook is a thumper, among other things. If he can stay healthy, he adds a whole different dimension, especially from Tyrann.

Yeah. Right now, we've got 3 safeties that are really good and they all do different things. It really helped against the Bengals, it was obvious.

Him getting his head around and batting that ball (after being burned on the play earlier) was the type of playmaking I wasn't sure any of our deep safeties had coming into the year.

Forcing essentially a punt on 3rd down was game-swinging, as I'm thinking the Bengals go for it in that situation.

I think Cook would be a fan favorite if we hadn't already decided he 1) was drafted too high, 2) wasn't a position of need, and 3) got too many penalties, even while making effort plays.

I mean, apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln - How was the rest of the play?

I might be more sympathetic if he wasn't 1) making/almost making plays and 2) if those same people hadn't decided they HATED the pick from the moment it was made.

legend

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justin Reid doesn&#39;t care about rentals, he&#39;s here to foreclose on your property. <a href="https://t.co/rJS4OweEGa">pic.twitter.com/rJS4OweEGa</a></p>&mdash; 📽️ Red Tribe Cinema (@ClayWendler) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayWendler/status/1622745955849187329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

See, here's my problem with this kind of op-ed (and I'm not picking on you, it's just convenient to use your post because it covers the main issues CP seems to have with Cook):

Who says he was drafted too high? Andy/Veach/Spags thought they should take him, so they took him. Are you really going to sit there and tell me that anyone on CP has more experience/knowledge about who and where to draft players than those three guys? Come on, don't be a dope.

Who has more inside info on what the team's needs are? Andy/Spags/Veach or Mr. couch potato football fan on CP?

All rooks draw flags, and they get picked on by opposing teams/OCs/QBs. It's both a tradition and an obligatory rite of passage in the NFL.

I'd say that Cook mostly exceeded whatever his rookie expectations were, some stubborn CPers notwithstanding. Has he been perfect or a huge surprise? No, but who ever is? He's been better than average and his play for the season has been a plus, not a minus. Consider it a steal and move on.

(That was precisely my point, but I appreciate the support...)

According to his IG he’s now 218.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This off-season has been tremendous. Currently the biggest, strongest, fastest and most technical that I’ve been in my career. The marathon continues ��</p>&mdash; Justin Reid (@JustinqReid) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustinqReid/status/1658256661012676611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I knew he was good, but he really did settle things down for us.

Nothing glamorous. He did his job well, and if I recall he didn’t miss time.

I certainly didn’t see him lame-ass tackles and make business decisions on the field.

And still about 1.5 years younger than Juan Thornhill.

He just turned 26; Thornhill will be 28 in October.

Absolutely crazy. I don't think he's gonna develop much more than he is because his game just isn't making plays on the ball. It never has been so expecting it to happen 6 years into his career is not terribly reasonable.

But with age/experience should come consistency. And he has a pretty stout cap figure next year so I wonder if tacking another couple years on that to lower the cap hit shouldn't be something we consider next off-season.

He's been a really solid addition.

I've kinda changed my defensive philosophy recently. He kinda plays into this with what you're saying, but in general, the defensive philosophy here should be just get the team to not score TD's.

Hold them to FG's? Fine

Punts? Even better

Turnovers? Sure, but don't take any chances or risks. Just do your job, hold them to FG's or punts and with our offense, we'll win 90% of the games we play.

I’m a fan of how Spags has run his defense. He has a bunch of players that are not stars, but they do their job and they do it effectively. They’re competent football players.

Bolton, Reid, Watson, Williams, McDuffie, Karlaftis, etc.

It’s the same thing Belichick did with his “do your job” memo. And quite honestly it didn’t look good at first bc Spags didn’t have the time or resources to implement it.

I’m glad the days of Hitchens missing so many open field tackles (God bless ‘em), Orlando Scandrick getting burned badly on a consistent basis, Leon McQuay as a possible starter (oof) and Dee Ford ****ing up while being a terrible run defender are over.

Major props to Spags. Guys like Matheiu and Sorenson stopped being part of that mold and Spags scrapped em, brought in Reid and drafted 6 rookies that ended up being part of that consistent model in their roles.

Just an absolute masterclass

And to think that there were a couple of assholes who wanted Rex Ryan instead.

The best defenses in the league these days are a couple things.

First off, they're athletic from front to back. They've got guys who do their job and dont' necessarily free lance.

Second off, they're not playing elite offenses.

If our DE pick hits, we have a chance at being a dominant defense for this coming season at least before we lose some pieces next offseason.

Yeah. I mean every fan of the Chiefs should be required to watch full games from 2018 and 2019. You will feel a lot better about the current Chiefs defense. I mean its almost laughable.

The thing with that is, the further the opponent is down, the more they will press and turnovers will happen later in the game.

Holy shit, I had no idea he was that young.

Awesome!

Rex Ryan's philosophy is great with the right guys.

They owned New England several times, even in the playoffs.

I wouldn't be so quick to brush the guy off.

Ryan is a system guy though, and in this day and age his system gets housed a ton.

Spags is my kind of coach. His gameplanning is so pragmatic and flexible from game to game.

Probably, but his scheme shut down one of the best offenses and biggest pedophiles around.

Really like Reid and I loved how he set the tempo in the Super Bowl by crushing into one of their receiver's on the first drive. I know they scored afterwards but it set down a marker that it wasn't going to be a cake walk like the rest of their games that year.

So why doesn't he have a job?

Probably gets paid more working in TV

IIRC most of us wanted the black guy from Dallas I don't know if he's even coaching anymore

Three seasons have elapsed since the Kansas City Chiefs walked off the field at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami as Super Bowl champions over the San Francisco 49ers. But in 2023, just two starters from that defensive unit remain on the team: defensive tackles Chris Jones and Derrick Nnadi.

Only thing I dislike about spags is sometimes I feel like he’s waiting till halftime to adjust….

Which I get, but sometimes we need to stop the bleeding in the half.

we're going to be tough as hell to beat if we can rush the QB.
A more matured Mahomes and Andy scoring over and over putting pressure on the other team plus an effective pass rush should be a good recipe for success.

That's incredible.

(Should probably be only one, though...)

Oh yeah. Kris Richard.

Man, that guys star absolutely cratered seemingly in a matter of months. Got canned along with Garrett, IIRC. Latched on with NOLA for a bit but I think he's out of the league again.

Bizarre to see a guy flame out that fast, really.

So true...we were definitely short of talent on that side of the ball. Much better today.

He got some shit last night for the TD but I'll give him a break. He was behind the TE bc he tripped up on Danna's helmet

https://x.com/jacobs71/status/170885...YJXccxRIbYwg3A

Another uncalled Jet penalty...

They don't call that in the meadowlands.

Wonder why his helmet was off? :hmmm:

Fire the Equipment Manager!!!!!

Or maybe just start calling shit on other teams’ OLs.

Time to throw some well-deserved kudos Justin Reid's way. He is playing as well as anyone on this defense, and that's saying something.

He's really come on strong this year. Mad props to him.

His ability to destroy receivers as they try to catch the ball without getting called for penalties is incredible.

He has a unique combination of timing and technique.

He's the anti-Kareem Jackson.

Lays the wood to people but does it the right way, with proper technique.

Why would anyone give him shit for that?

hes been playing much better. he was never playing truly bad but i thought he was the clear weak link of the secondary before the last few games. everyone is humming like a machine now

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">0 catches allowed and I can’t guard a soul lmao. Guard deez nuts</p>&mdash; Justin Reid (@JustinqReid) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustinqReid/status/1749495055658746150?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I was a hard critic of Jreid in the past but the last half of the season hes really upped his game. Most of last season I felt like he was the weak link in our secondary even with jwat and jwil being rookies. He can happily serve my heaping plate of crow.

For awhile I thought Reid was a goner after this year but I think he's kept now he's a very solid consistent piece.

He laid the lumber on Shakir last night. Incredible hit.

Good lord I love this team. :)

Holy shit. LMAO

:popcorn:

guard deez nuts!

He was a good signing!