Super Bowl 2013 Media Day kicks off and Ed Reed and the San Francisco 49ers were a main topic after some agreed with President Obama's comments on football.
Ed Reed is one of the most prominent defensive players in football, but even he feels that game could be safer.
The Ravens safety responded on Monday about comments President Barack Obama made regarding the future of the game and how safe it is. He said that after 11 years in the league he wants to make the game safer and said that he could be someone "to help work it out."
"I am with Obama," Reed said to ESPN.com after learning of the president's concerns about parents allowing their sons to play football. "I have a son. I am not forcing football on my son. If he wants to play it ... I can't make decisions for him. All I can do is say, 'Son, I played it so you don't have to.' "
As a nine-time Pro Bowl player and a Defensive Player of the Year, Reed knows how tough it is in the NFL and that the medical system could use some work.
"We've got some leaks in it that need to be worked out," he said. "Every medical training room should be upgraded; training rooms can be a lot better. When you've got the president talking about it, you got something."
"This is something we chose to do," the quarterback said. "When you talk about little kids doing it, they are not having the collisions we have in the NFL."
Not everyone agreed with Reed, though. Quarterback Joe Flacco said that no one forced him into playing football and that he knows the risks.
Aldon Smith of the 49ers made a similar comment.
"It's not like we signed up and thought we were going to play tennis," Smith said. "It's a physical game. Everybody plays hard. And guys get hit sometimes. That's what we all know coming into the game. We all signed up for it. We came out to play football."
San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh joked about the comments in a press conference and spoke about allowing his son Jack, now 4 months old, to follow in his footsteps as an NFL quarterback for 14 seasons.
"If President Obama feels that way, then (there will) be a little less competition for Jack Harbaugh when he gets older," said Harbaugh, whose older brother John coaches the Niners' opponent, the Baltimore Ravens. "That's the first thing that jumps into my mind, if other parents are thinking that way."
Reed joins a number of NFL players as well as other media personalities that agree with the President, including former NFL quarterback Troy Aikman as well as Jay Cutler's fiancée Kristin Cavallari, who said she did not want her son to play football if she could convince him.
According to ESPNChicago.com, Cavallari spoke to a website in Chicago and said that she wants to persuade her and Cutler's five-month-old son not to play football when he gets older.
"I will try to steer Cam in a different direction, maybe a sport that isn't so aggressive," Cavallari told DNAinfo.com Chicago. "Maybe baseball -- something where he doesn't have to get hit."
Obama spoke about the issue in an interview with the New Republic, saying that he would have to ponder long and hard whether to allow his son to play the game. He also said that the game people know now will likely change over time to reduce the violence.
"And those of us who are fans maybe won't have to examine our consciences quite as much," he said, according to ESPN.com. The interview appears in the Feb. 11 issue of The New Republic.
Obama mentioned the NFL, but he expressed more concern about the college level since the professionals are compensated for their work.
"They can make some of these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies," Obama said of NFL players. "You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That's something that I'd like to see the NCAA think about."
Reed recently commented on Ray Lewis's retirement as well as his own. He said it is possible (though unlikely) that Lewis will return next season, while he definitely will be playing. The real question is, will it be in a Ravens uniform?
"I'll be playing next year," Reed said Thursday before Baltimore hit the practice field in preparation for their Feb. 3 Super Bowl matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. "No, it's not my last ride. I just bought a bike."
Reed has played in the NFL for 11 years, but over the past couple of seasons, many in the media have wondered if Reed will retire due to the physical demands of his position and his age. Reed has been extremely durable over the past couple years and hasn't missed a game since 2010, when he was forced to sit out of the first six games with a hip issue.
This season he played in all 16 games once again and was one of only two players to do so on the Ravens along with cornerback Cary Williams, who was forced to step up after the season-ending injury to Lardarius Webb. Reed is one of the most accomplished defensive players in NFL history and has been to nine Pro Bowls, including every game since 2006. He has made a franchise-record 61 interceptions during his career for an NFL-record 1,541 yards.
Reed has another solid season for the Ravens, making 58 tackles with four interceptions, including one that he took back for a touchdown. He also recovered three fumbles and recorded 16 passes defended. His best game of the year came against the New England Patriots in Week 3 when he had a season-high nine tackles and two passes defended in the 31-30 victory.
Reed is set to be a free agent after the season and if the Ravens can't sign hi, he will have suitors such as the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos. Even though he is in his thirties, Reed is still one of the best defensive layers in the game and can make explosive plays all over the secondary.
