Eric Todd Reid Jr. (born December 10, 1991) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for LSU Tigers, receiving consensus All-American recognition. He was selected in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers, with whom he made the 2014 Pro Bowl.
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Early life
Reid was born to Eric Reid Sr. and Sharon Reid in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Dutchtown High School in Geismar, Louisiana, where he played football, basketball, and ran track. In football, he recorded 78 tackles, nine sacks, four interceptions, and three fumble recoveries as a junior. As a senior, he received Louisiana Class 5A All-state honors after registering 45 tackles and three interceptions. He played in the 2010 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Also a standout track & field athlete, Reid followed in his father's footsteps to excel in the hurdling events while at Dutchtown. His father was the 1987 NCAA Champion while at LSU. In sprints, he set a personal record time of 6.69 seconds in the 55-meter dash at the 2009 LSU High School Indoor Classic. In the hurdling events, he placed 4th in the 55-meter hurdles at the 2009 High School Last Chance Qualifier, with a personal record time of 8.00 seconds. His career-best time of 14.2 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2010 Dutchtown 4-way Meet, where he won gold.
College career
Reid enrolled at Louisiana State University, where he played for coach Les Miles's LSU Tigers football team from 2010 to 2012. As a freshman in 2010, Reid played in 13 games with three starts. He finished the season with 32 tackles and two interceptions. As a first-year starter as a sophomore in 2011, Reid recorded 76 tackles, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles. He was named a second-team All-American by Rivals.com and was a second-team All-SEC selection by the Associated Press.
As a junior in 2012, he started all 13 games at safety and finished third on the team in tackles with 91 (42 unassisted), two interceptions, and seven pass breakups. He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from the American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America, ESPN, and Scout.com, and second-team honors from the Associated Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation, Athlon Sports, CBSsports.com, and Sports Illustrated. He was also a first-team All-SEC selection.
Professional career
Pre-draft
Coming out of LSU, Reid was projected to be a first- or second-round pick by a majority of NFL draft experts and scouts. He received an invitation to the NFL combine and completed all of the required combine and positional drills. On March 27, 2013, he opted to participate at LSU's pro day, and chose to perform positional drills, the 40-yard dash (4.50), 20-yard dash (2.60), and 10-yard dash (1.54) for the scouts and team representatives in attendance. He was ranked the second best free safety in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com, the third best safety prospect by NFL analyst Mike Mayock, and the fourth best safety in the draft by Sports Illustrated.
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers selected Reid in the first round (18th overall) of the 2013 NFL draft. In order to select Reid, the 49ers traded their first- (31st overall) and third-round picks (74th overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft to the Dallas Cowboys. He was the second safety selected behind Kenny Vaccaro (15th overall, Saints) and the second of six LSU players selected in the first three rounds, breaking the NFL draft record. A total of nine players from LSU were drafted in 2013, setting a new school record.
On July 5, 2013, the San Francisco 49ers signed Reid to a fully guaranteed four-year, $8.48 million contract that included a signing bonus of $4.54 million.
Reid was drafted to become the starting free safety after the San Francisco 49ers had lost Dashon Goldson, who opted to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during free agency. Reid competed with veterans Craig Dahl and C. J. Spillman throughout training camp, in an effort to win the job as the starting free safety. Head coach Jim Harbaugh named him the starting free safety to start the 2013 season.
In his professional regular season debut and first career start in the San Francisco 49ers' season-opener against the Green Bay Packers, he recorded seven solo tackles and a pass deflection, and intercepted a pass attempt by Aaron Rodgers during the 34–28 victory. The following week he earned two solo tackles, defended a pass, and made his second career interception, picking off a pass attempt by Seattle Seahawks' quarterback Russell Wilson in the 49ers' 29–3 loss. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish the game after suffering a concussion.
In Week 6, Reid collected three combined tackles, deflected a pass, recovered a fumble, and intercepted a pass attempt by Carson Palmer and returned it 53 yards, as the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 32–20. On December 29, 2013, he earned a season-high ten combined tackles and defended a pass during the 49ers' 23–20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. He finished his rookie season with 77 combined tackles (62 solo), 11 pass deflections, and four interceptions in 16 games and 16 starts. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team. Reid was voted to be an alternate for the 2014 Pro Bowl.
The 49ers finished second in the NFC West with a 12–4 record under Jim Harbaugh in 2013. On January 5, 2014, Reid started in his first career playoff game and recorded nine combined tackles en route to a 23–20 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wildcard game. On January 19, 2014, the 49ers played the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship and Reid made four combined tackles in the 23–17 loss. On January 21, 2014, it was reported that Reid would be replacing Kam Chancellor in the 2014 Pro Bowl.
Carolina Panthers
On September 27, 2018, after placing starting safety Da'Norris Searcy on injured reserve, the Carolina Panthers signed Reid to a one-year deal. Despite a lot of speculation about new Panthers owner David Tepper's thoughts and agenda in contrast to those of the prior owner Jerry Richardson, Tepper and general manager Marty Hurney insisted that the signing was purely a football decision. Reid refused to disclose more details about the circumstances leading to his signing in a press conference later that day, citing the fact that the information pertained to his collusion lawsuit. Head coach Ron Rivera announced on October 5, 2018, that Reid would start at the free safety position in his season debut against the Giants on October 7, 2018. Reid ended up taking a knee before the game, becoming the first Panthers player ever to do so, and totaled three tackles. He finished the season starting in 13 games, recording 71 tackles, one sack, five passes defensed, and an interception.
On February 11, 2019, Reid signed a three-year, $22 million contract extension with the Panthers.
In week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Reid forced a fumble on Gardner Minshew and recovered the ball in the 34–27 win.
In Week 9 against the Tennessee Titans, Reid recorded a team-high 11 tackles, sacked Ryan Tannehill once, and forced a fumble on running back Dion Lewis that was recovered by teammate Donte Jackson in the 30–20 win.
In week 12 against the New Orleans Saints, Reid recorded a team-high 15 tackles in the 34–31 loss.
On March 18, 2020, Reid was released by the Panthers.
Mid-way through the 2020 season, Reid was offered an opportunity to reunite with coach Ron Rivera on the Washington Football Team practice squad. Reid declined the offer, stating "I just don't think playing on the practice squad is reflective or indicative of my career."
Protest activities and collusion grievance against the NFL
In May 2018, Reid filed an official grievance letter with the NFL alleging that team owners and the league, influenced by President Donald Trump, colluded to prevent his employment due to his protest activities. Reid was the second NFL player after Colin Kaepernick to participate in
U.S. national anthem protests intended to highlight social awareness and racial injustice towards black people. Reid's lawyers also represent Kaepernick in a similar grievance case against the NFL. Trump, who publicly condemned the kneeling protests and urged that the protesting players be fired, had private conversations with NFL owners about the player protests during the time period. Team owners have said they are concerned about being in conflict with Trump in regards to the anthem protests. During a job interview with Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown, Reid reportedly refused to say whether he would obey a rule against kneeling during the anthem. In Reid's introductory press conference with the Panthers on September 27, 2018, he wore a shirt that supported Kaepernick and stated that his collusion lawsuit would still proceed unimpeded.
David Tepper, the new owner of the Panthers, was not named in the lawsuit since he was not yet a team owner when it was filed. Tepper also had been quite outspoken with his remarks about President Trump in the recent past and was more open to players expressing themselves and protesting than the rest of the team owners. Nonetheless, the Panthers organization said the Reid signing was football-oriented only.
When asked by reporters during the press conference about plans to protest now that he had signed with a new team, Reid did not answer the questions and cited the fact that the information pertained to his grievance. Reid did not directly say that he would no longer kneel prior to games but stated that he was "considering other ways" of protesting. In his season debut on October 7, 2018, at home in Charlotte against the Giants, he took a knee prior to the game.
By the Panthers' Week 15 loss to the New Orleans Saints, Reid claimed he had been drug-tested seven times during the 2018 season, even though he had played in only 11 games; accounting for a mandatory test, the probability of such an instance happening randomly is approximately 0.17%. Reid saw this as evidence of being targeted by the league and planned on including these seven drug tests as part of his case file in the proceedings of his collusion grievance against the league. A joint investigation by the NFL and National Football League Players Association concluded that Reid's claims about the number of times he was drug-tested were inaccurate.
Personal life
His brother, Justin, is a safety in the NFL.