
Is this Reed’s last season in Baltimore?
This just in from the Baltimore Ravens Team site. Some very interesting details about Ed Reed and his future in Baltimore.
Two important news items surfaced in Jason La Canfora’s exclusive sit-down interview with safety Ed Reed after the youth football camp at Stevenson University Monday.
First, the future Hall of Famer won’t hold out of training camp – this is according to an unnamed family relative. Second, he turned down a contract offer the Ravens presented two days before the 2011 season opener with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Everyone is talking about a holdout,” Reed’s close family member told La Canfora. “Ed isn’t going to hold out. He told me he isn’t going to hold out. He speaks his mind about some things, gets some things off his chest, but he’s never said he is going to hold out. He’ll show up when he has to be there and he’ll play out his contract.”
Reed himself stopped just short of confirming that he’ll be at camp, but slipped in a little reminder: “I’m sure the Ravens are confident I’ll be there for camp, because they know how much I love the game, too. But I’ll say this, they’re not going to get me for cheap, not a chance.”
La Canfora reports there is still a “game of chicken” going on between Reed and the Ravens.
The team offered Reed a multi-year deal last September, according to La Canfora’s sources, that would keep him below $8 million a year.
“[It’s] a threshold far less accomplished safeties like Eric Weddle and Michael Huff have reached,” wrote La Canfora. “From Baltimore’s perspective, Reed is much older than those two and has experienced serious neck and hip injuries in recent years as well, making an already touchy negotiation even more delicate.”
