Jordan Reed wants to continue playing, and he says three teams have shown some interest in him. Is this a player people should be selecting in the last rounds of their drafts?
Once upon a time, recall, Reed was a top-end tight end. He put up the best per-game numbers of any player at his position in the 2015-16 seasons, with 153 catches and 17 TDs in 26 games. He was the No. 1 PPR tight end in both of those seasons.
But I’m not sure he’s that guy anymore. He hasn’t been as productive the last three seasons, catching 81 passes and 4 TDs in 19 games.
He’s also had all kinds of problems staying healthy. According to the SportsInjuryPredictor.com website, he’s suffered seven concussions during his career, along with a host of other injuries – toe, hamstring, chest, shoulder, knee, quad, thigh and thumb.
Reed has missed multiple games in all seven of his pro seasons. He’s played in only 65 of 112 games since Washington drafted him in 2013. For only 51 of his 112 pro games has he been fully clear of injuries – not on injured reserve, and not on the injury report. He missed all of last season after suffering a concussion in a preseason game against the Falcons.
Reed just turned 30. A few months back, reports indicated the Seahawks and Rams were considering him.
For me, I don’t see enough there. In leagues I’m playing in, I don’t have any interest in carrying three tight ends. I would rather carry additional backup running backs. I’m don’t want to carry more than two tight ends, so I’m looking at about the top 24 at that position. And while there’s some outside chance Reed might be a factor at times, there’s no way that he’s getting anywhere close to my top 24 tight ends right now.
Those wanting to gamble on Reed, I suppose, could point to another tight end from the class of 2013: Tyler Eifert. He’s similarly been plagued by injuries for years, but Eifert surprised last year by playing a full 16 games for the Bills.
In approximately four seasons worth of action (65 games) Reed has caught 329 passes for 3,371 yards and 24 TDs – about 79 catches and 6 TDs per 16 games during his career.
On the chart below, the final column (“Rk”) shows where he placed among tight ends in per-game PPR production. That’s among tight ends playing at least half the season, so Reed hasn’t even played enough to qualify for consideration in two of his last three seasons.
| JORDAN REED, PER-GAME PRODUCTION | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | G | No | Yds | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2013 | 9 | 5.0 | 55.4 | .33 | 12.7 | 7 |
| 2014 | 11 | 4.5 | 42.3 | .00 | 8.8 | 17 |
| 2015 | 14 | 6.2 | 68.0 | .79 | 17.7 | 1 |
| 2016 | 12 | 5.5 | 57.2 | .50 | 14.2 | 1 |
| 2017 | 6 | 4.5 | 35.2 | .33 | 10.0 | -- |
| 2018 | 13 | 4.2 | 42.9 | .15 | 9.4 | 11 |
| 2019 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |