Newly signed Houston Texans safety Ed Reed is not positive when he will see the field this year. The Super Bowl champ has been hobbling around all offseason after undergoing hip surgery. Questions remain about the severity of the injury and where he is in his recovery process. While Reed is not positive about any technical aspects of his injury, he is pretty positive what the cause of it was and he is placing blame on New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady.
There was controversial moment in the AFC Championship Game when Brady was sliding for yardage and appeared to have kicked Reed in the hip. Brady later apologized for the incident and was fined $10,000 for the kick. Reed appeared bothered by the kick but was healthy enough to play two weeks later. Now Reed believes it was Brady that caused the torn labrum in his hip.
"Only play I can look at is when I got kicked by a certain quarterback but even then I played in the Super Bowl and you saw what happened there. Even then I had two MCL sprains, a second degree one in the left in the Super Bowl in the first quarter and played through that. So if you've got any questions about my heart and how I play and how I work," Reed said.
Reports have been flying that the Texans were unaware just how bad Reed's hip was when he signed with the team. The safety had arthroscopic surgery on his hip back in April and has been unable to participate in any OTAs or minicamps since then. The surgery is said to have been less significant than his last surgery. This surgery was just soft tissue work where the surgery required bone shaving. Reed is hopeful that he will be ready for the upcoming season, but is unsure if he will be healthy in time for training camp.
Sources report that the Ravens were very aware about Reed's troubled hip and that is what caused the team to not offer the safety a new contract. The team once tried to hide a shoulder surgery Reed underwent in 2012 and their injury reports made no mention of a hip injury which could possibly have been another cover up.
Reed is expected to be a leader of the Texans' defense and their secondary unit. Head coach Gary Kubiak said the team was unaware another surgery would delay Reed joining the team, but is hopeful the safety will be back sooner rather than later.
