When safety Justin Reid joined the Kansas City Chiefs as an unrestricted free agent in 2022, he was coming to a team responsible for a devestating playoff defeat to his former team: the Houston Texans. The Chiefs had famously come back from a 24-0 deficit to defeat the Texans 51-31 in a 2020 Divisional Round matchup.
On Monday’s episode of the “Up and Adams Show” on FanDuel Sports Network, Reid told host Kay Adams that he nearly repeated this history by joining the Philadelphia Eagles during this free agency — despite their humiliating 40-22 win over Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX.
“Pretty close, actually,” he confirmed of his talks to join the Eagles. “Me and the defensive backs coach there have a really good relationship. The defensive system is the same system I ran at Stanford. That whole Vic Fangio system — I know it pretty well. The conversations were pretty intense. The only drawback is they were so limited in cap space that we couldn’t make a deal that made sense. But the conversation was happening.”
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Ultimately, Reid signed with the New Orleans Saints on March 11. He held out hope of rejoining the Chiefs — and staying with defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and defensive backs coach Dave Merritt — even as the new league year unfolded.
“They were in the conversation too,” he said of Kansas City. “I was also texting coach Spags and Coach Merritt the whole time along the process to see if something could be worked out. The only constant thing in this business is change. That’s the only thing that’s ever the same year to year is that things are always changing. I don’t think it was from a lack of ‘want to’ on either side but rather just a product of the situation and what salary cap space was available and what moves were the emphasis of the offseason to go out and make.”
Reid pinpointed the moment he knew that staying with the Chiefs would not be possible.
“Early that second day of free agency,” he recalled. “I was actually trying to wait. I was trying to wait to buy time to see if we could get something worked out. Then the cards unfolded, and it just didn’t work out. Then you have to end up making the next best decision for yourself. That’s why I ended up choosing the Saints.”
The Saints have a strong recent history of signing former Kansas City defensive players. Reid will now be reunited with fellow safety Tyrann Mathieu — his one-time teammate in Houston who preceded him as the voice of the Chiefs’ secondary while in Kansas City from 2019 through 2021.
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Reid confirmed the player known as “The Honey Badger” is partially responsible for his signing in New Orleans.
“We’ve always stayed in contact,” he acknowledged. “He’s been one hell of a leader. To this day, he gives the best pregame speeches and hype speeches that I’ve ever heard in my life. Knowing that I had a partner that I could trust and already had chemistry [with] played a role.”
In a message for Chiefs fans, Reid showed no negativity for the organization — and acknowledged the difficult personnel decisions that are made throughout the league.
“It’s always all love,” the two-time Super Bowl champion declared. “There’s no animosity. There’s no hate. I’ve never had a bad relationship with any of the teams I’ve played for. I still love the Texans. I still love the Chiefs. I still love the cities in both of those places. It’s not something to be personal about.
“The NFL is a business at the end of the day. If you approach it as such, you don’t get your feelings hurt.
“To all the Chiefs fans out there: I still love you. I’m still so proud of the things I was able to do with you the last three years. It was one hell of a journey. It was an incredible run. I’ll still be cheering you guys on from afar — unless we’re playing on the same field.”
