I remember Reggie Wayne's story when he was at the U. He was hurt but he won't come out of the game cos his back up was Andre Johnson . It showed you how stacked they were and how your role can be taken anytime.

The NFL and the NCAA both recently extended their seasons. They pretended to be concerned about their athletes but their real concern is the money.

Chris Rock said it best: "There's no money in the cure."

Absolutely 100% Well Said, Ed Reed! The NCAA and NFL needs to do so much more!

Everybody in Baltimore and in Ravens Nation loves Ed to death, not just because of his contribution on the field, but also because of the person he is. Everyone will always be proud af you as a Raven and thankful for all you have done for the team and city. When Ed speeks, the whole NFL world must listen. That said, we have always known that Ed has always had this mindset of being disrespected or exploited. That's been part of his universally loved personality. And this is what pops up here. He made it clear he felt disrespected back then, when he wasn't retained by the Ravens, so it's not hindsight. So, with all the love we all have towards you Ed, there is a reality. And that reality, in 2012-13 was, that your body could no longer serve your football mind that's been second to no one. You simply couldn't make a play which involved jumping you didn't have to limp off the field from. Your knees were toast at that point. You yourself mentioning in another segment of this same interview that at the Super Bowl you had MCL on both of your knees. No matter how rilliant you still were as a football player, your body was no longer suitable for the NFL. Just see what happened after you had to leave Baltimore: you went to the Texans where you were cut mid season, spending the rest of 2013 with the Jets, where you had your brilliant moments, but were clearly no longer the Ed Reed everyone remebered. No matter how much you had done for the Ravens, I don't thzink it's fair to expect them to spend a roster spot on someone who can no longer contribute enough on the field, no matter how tremendous the guys had been. Brutal, but this is how the NFL works. Also, you yourself spent the past few off-seasons before the Super Bowl contemplating retirement. And as the NFL wisdom says, once a player even thinks of retirement, it means his mind has already started the process of retirement. Ray Lewis at least made the final courtesy to the only team he ever played for in the NFL, to retire so they don't have to cut him, when his body clearly could no longer serve him on the NFL level. Suggs had the "decency" of sparing Ravens Nation of his down-the-hill self by going to "die" in Arizona. You should have retired after the Super Bowl. You would have gone to Canton together woth Ray, of that I'm sure.

Ed Reed! Incredible player!

Well said! Mad respect, Ed.

I agree to some degree with Reed and definitely empathize with him. But even at the high school level these problems start. This is without NFL dreams I remember a few players at division 3 Montclair state discussing whether or not the sacrifice was worth it. Here in Georgia many young men are not given guidance at the high school level for academics while feeling pressure to play football. Mostly because they feel it’s their responsibility for their family and only way out…

This is the business we have chosen.

Do you ever increase the length of forward/backward you're hopping?

Love this guy

Life long ravens fan here. Love Ed. But this really rubs me the wrong way. Ed spent his last 4-5 off-seasons playing hard to get, pulling a Favre/Rodgers. Literally every off-season he’d say, oh idk if I’m going to play this coming season, and he’d put the team in a position of uncertainty for free agency and draft. By the end, his play wasn’t worth that uncertainty, or the contract he was asking for. That’s why he lost his starting job half way through the season with the Texans, and then cut a few weeks later, even though they had just signed him to a 3 year contract with a bunch of guarantees

Good move by Baltimore (he was hurt the whole time with the Texans)

I miss seeing him running around that field tackling and that nose for the ball. He was something else

I'm a Chargers fan. Ed Reed is EASILY in my top 5 favorite players not a Charger. Much Respect!

Love Ed. It is all about the U.

He's not lying! Love Ed....always honest. One of the best.

Ed is my all-time favorite Raven

Is this a Joe buck interview or Ed Reed interview? I’m confused…

I love me some LJ, but I am ravens fan first and foremost cuz of Ray. Point blank, never seen a defense be a de facto offense as well.

Ed needs to be a national spokesman. "...treating the symptoms, not the core problems."

Reed ✊

Ed's not telling the whole story. He got a big contract and the minute the guaranteed money was paid he started griping and once you no longer a superstar teams lose patience with that. So for him to now complain about loyalty is funny. Nobody is loyal- players or teams. But you know that the day you drafted

Choices

Ed reed is my favorite player and I have a problem with his position on this. I’m not sure of the entire context of this interview, just that it leaves me feeling bullish about his opinion.

I have empathy for the physical and mental issues that NFL players deal with during and after their playing days. It's a violent, brutal game -- especially at their level. But I think it's wrong to lay all of the blame on the league and the doctors. Reed and others seem to think that the doctors should have all of the answers (treating the symptoms instead of the cause) but in reality there simply isn't enough knowledge yet to do anything preventive regarding CTE and other problems. So to play, you make a deal with the devil that you will probably have problems later in life and during your short playing career. If you choose to make that deal, you have to realize what the back side probably will be. And it's not just football; I played baseball and softball for many years and had concussions and broken bones, etc. I'm dealing with the effects of that to this day. But I can't complain because I made the choice to play the way I did, and I knew there would be issues later. It's risk and reward, and I don't think Reed and other elite players were duped into playing football as much as they claim to be. And make no mistake: Reed was a great player.

They complain about injuries and later problems but so has lots and lots of people working normal jobs for peanut pay compared to these guys. You don't think a construction worker carrying and mounting sheetrock has issues after doing it for 10-15 years? And he might have earned in that time what players did for their rookie season!

Why I support athletes getting paid and being able to transfer…the old system took advantage of the players and coaches always were able to leave for better opportunities.

Ed reed is the TRUTH....😮

Amazing player....but likely has CTE. Was it worth it?

I hear what he's saying but I guarantee he'd fall right in line if he was a head coach. It's hard to win and coaches are judged by winning. It's a cold world.

Thats the medical industry in general not just nfl

100% I want my football heroes to be given the chance to be as healthy as possible during and after their careers by virtue of rule changes, technique and tech. I want them financially sound as well. The sport is hard enough to be then taken advantage of and left in misery. I'm concerned about all the living ex-players who are suffering right now and deserve NFL assistance.

The money is not worth the pain and suffering they will go through after football.

Sports like Basketball and football. You shouldn’t be playing as long as many do because of the physical effects. Like basketball. These guys play 82 games a year which is insane. And then when you learn the real purpose as to why they play these games so much. That’s even more a energetic detriment that will impact every player participating.

Class Act!

It’s risk vs reward…and the NFL should make every player acutely aware of the risk and provide great root cause treatment. The risk is still the players to own.

im and ronnie lott, the best ever

He’s not a victim

YA CAN'T FIX OLD AGE ED. Doc can't help with that. Youthful energy and health are fleeting as is your life. Football players are not the only ones who's bodies and brains break down in thier 40s,50s, 60s, and beyond. It's the natural order. I would never be so foolish to spend 15 years crashing and smashing my body for fortune and fame and then trying to blame someone else for some injuries I got from doing so. Maybe if you whine enough you can get that big paycheck from your lawsuit and get back some of those millions you childishly squandered the first time. It seems like foulplay to me.

Ed reed seemed like he covered more ground than anyone back there

*If Baltimore Ravens wants to do right by Ed Reed, He deserves a Statue outside M&T Bank Stadium* without question. *As a former football player, Cornerback you sign up for the Rewards and Repercussions that come with playing a high impact, violent collision sport called Football* .Footfall is not for the weak and most of the rules changes negatively effect the game, inflate numbers and overvalue offensive player safety over defensive players safety. *Remember a RB, TE , WR can still legally run over "Truck" a DB or LB anytime the NFL or NCAA havent implemented any restrictions to offensive players to protect defensive players* Furthermore, *The Crack-Back or Peal Back blocks are still legal* one of the most dangerous plays in the sport that's mainly initiated on defensive players.

Everyone is a scholar after the fact. They were seeking millions all along.

You don’t have to play. You love to play.

Cmon y’all. Ed played along time and he definitely played to injure people. I do believe not permanently though. CTE and bi polar/manic depression depression go hand and hand. He’s still in relatively young. I hope it doesn’t get worse. Though I truly believe it will. 😢

“Would do it again” 🤷‍♂️

So choose longer health instead of the money and fame. Thought not.

Joe Buck trying to explain to the audience what the hell Ed Reed is saying. Lol 😂

Way to pull back from saying racist shit Ed! It starts with you! Appreciate you Ed!

Everybody understands the risk but all play anyway because it beats working at WalMart.

Ed Reed "The League the NCAA...dey gotta do sumtin!!" - Do exactly WHAT, Ed? Restrict competition so players can't lose their place on the depth chart? Players want this to be a "job job" its not. Its an ultra competitive what-have-you-done-for-me-lately environment. If a player doesn't perform at a high level, that means teams lose games. You've worked your body to failure after years of willing abuse. Go talk to a 35 year old landscaper, welder, longshoreman, etc.... who made 1% of your earnings in life. Boo Hoo

use why they need you and kick you aside for life changing, generational wealth money, that 99% of us will never get a swiff of. Feel terrible for you Ed

Great respect for him but he’s not saying anything new or profound. Being an NFL player is just like any other job, results oriented business. With high risk comes a great reward - generational wealth and fame. 99 % of people would jump on this opportunity in a heart beat.

Harbaugh wanted him and Bolden out. Too strong of personalities in the locker room. He feared the respect and control they had on the team. Shipped this Titan out in efforts to humility him. Cut Bolden when he was in Africa building schools. They wouldn’t have won that ring without this receiver that played bully ball once they started using him after week 10 that year

The issue is far less with the league than it is with the players themselves. I constantly hear the same type of shit from former and current players on the same handful of issues, yet I've literally never seen any of them take accountability and/or correctly state who's to blame, the NFLPA. If they really wanted all fields to be grass, they'd get it. If they wanted contracts to have certain guarantees, they could negotiate it. You want the refs to be held accountable? Done. Stemming off of this though, is the fact that the vast majority of people don't understand this basic fact of life: "There are no solutions, only trade-offs." I don't even know what Reed, or any player, would wanna do to about the "issue" of, "Well, if I get hurt, the guy behind me can steal my job." No shit, and? You want to prevent someone else from hypothetically taking a step in their football career? Yea, it really sucks for the guy who loses their job, but what's the alternative? You want the team to be worse? You want that guy to be prevented from playing? The hell are you asking for? Or seeing former NFL players cry about "not being taken care of" when they didn't use their money wisely in the slightest, etc., I'm not keen to just blindly sympathize with them.

So…he talks about how these institutions are all about money, do nothing to help the players when they sustain injuries that last well after their career is over but….he would do it again because it gave him an opportunity to better himself with the millions he made himself. So is he complaining or making an observation? I can’t tell because it sounds like a situation where both parties benefited from each other.

I hear you, I do. I thought for one would absolutely 100% sign up for 10-12 years, playing a game that I love with my heart and get paid more money than I’d ever be able to spend. Verbally, physically abuse me and I would not for a moment not be grateful.

It’s sad that greed is so prevalent in this country! It’s nothing for the NFL to set aside $1 billion fund to take care of retired players, absolutely nothing for them to do so! With all the funds that the NFL brings in doing that, for their players would be the right thing to do!

Joe Buck is gross. He is clearly trying to steer the conversation in a way that protects the NFL from culpability

Ed Reed is such an insightful, aware person. He was a warrior, it's an archtype, that was his darma. But he was the divine version, an intelligent leader. Like he said his intent wasn't to hurt anybody, but to play the game as best he could, and to me he was one of the top 5 smartest players ever. Was on another level. To hear that the Ravens didn't treat him right at the end tells you about the Ravens and the NFL. Because the him and Lewis made the Ravens, not vice versa. They should honor those guys every year.

the ravens were done with Ed because he had a swollen ego and was a diva, they didn't want that toxicity and mutiny on the team anymore

Ed should have retired along with Ray. They were shells of their former selves that last year. If it weren’t for their star power, they’d have been backups on 3/4 of the teams in the league. It wasn’t disrespectful to not bring him back. His play the next year in Houston/NYC showed that. Leaving after the SB win would of been the perfect send off for a guy who obviously wasn’t the player he used to be by that point

Can't stand Joe Buck...never liked his commentating.

i was always so mad how bad my texans treated him. signed him and wade phillips wouldn't play him.

Reed makes sense with his honesty. He hit the nail on the head. I never cared for players like Steelers receiver Hines Ward who would cheap shot Reed. I think Hines Ward knew that Reed was always an honest guy and didn’t like that, and so he would try and cheap shot Reed in order to shut him up. It didn’t work, thank GOD. Whenever you’re honest like Reed, be prepared to be a target, because someone out there like Ward will try and take you out. I’m from Pittsburgh and Ward always seemed to look out for himself even if it came at the expense of someone else.

Graestone.

I love the NFL and watch it religiously every sunday but you couldn't pay me enough money to let my sons play football. No way. It just sucks.

2:44 The way Joe Buck refused to even have an expression on his face when Ed said we treat illnesses by drugging symptoms instead of addressing causes tho. I guarantee you his internal dialogue was.. “Don’t react Joe. We have sponsorships with Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, etc. Don’t react Joe. Don’t react Joe.”😂😂

Nobody forced you to play

Did you love the money you made? Why is the NFL responsible for the decisions you made? Football is dangerous, you knew that, you accepted that risk. Now what do you want a hand out?

You will end up with severe Health issues smashing in to other Athletes thousands of times per year. That is why the Money you are paid is Astronomical compared to all other Professions. It's a choice, a lot of Money, for a lot of Pain.

I’ve had to work through injuries and I can no longer perform physical labor. I’ve got zero empathy for a crying millionaire.

I get what you’re saying but let’s be honest the game is not good for your health and brain. It’s well known . Instead of shorting the season they extend it. The problem is your union- players have no unity. Hell back in the day star players like Joe Montana crossed the picket line. He should have been called out as a scab but that is never happening. It’s never even mentioned.

time for flag football

Ed you were a great player definitely a hofer but You were at the end of your career

I've had a personal encounter with Reed and he's very entitled and arrogant how long did his career last in Texas ? He was done and wanted more money dude thinks he should be paid just to talk about football. FOH

What do you expect when you sign your body over to billionaire businessmen. You play with the devil you can get burnt. “And I would do it again” Addicted to the devil who feed you…

They make millions playing, then spend millions in retirement on medical issues.

Ed Reed was a phenomenal player, but he talks like he has a 2nd grade education

I love listening to these guys bitch about leagues owing them something other than the MILLIONS of dollars they made. What a joke. Go work at Target if you’re so worried about concussions.

If Ed Reed or any other NFL player who has retired and now has C.T.E. symptoms or chronic pain, possibly for the rest of their lives, and would still do it all over again it just indicates that they value money over their long-term health. I've heard many of them say that earning "generational" wealth is worth losing their health and brain cells. I cannot find empathy for people who love money that much.

quit crying

Love Ed. But he sound like a cry baby. What are you doing to push change?

Joe Buck is the worst! That is all!

for cte - the core problem is the sport. It's extremely dangerous

These athletes are paid a life changing amount of money to play a game. That should be enough

Every player in the league will have these symptoms. If you played college for any length of time your brain already took too much damage. Now what is the league supposed to pay for every player a salary enough for a GOOD life meanwhile the average player barely spends any time in the league? These guys no the risks. And they are paid a shit tonn. My only gripe is the NCAA should be forced to pay players the same way so they can choose to quit earlier with money. But it not like humans are going to suddenly evolve a brain mechanism so that we can take repeated head trauma like a Ram lol. And its not like the NFL should have to guarantee a high standard of living for players for life when their huge salaries apparently cannot cover their medical bills. Like gtfo here. League minimum is 450k a year to start plus signing bonuses. So half of them be making over a million to touch the NFL. Say you quit after that 1 season. If a million dollars cannot get you through life then your pathetic. Try working hard your entire life, grinding away to pay mortgages. These divas want to keep all their money and have the league pay for their lifestyles of glammor

I remember I was really mad they let Reed go. He should’ve stayed and retired a Raven. Then they drafted Matt Elam to replace him and that dude was TRASH.

Change your diaper, Eddie. The whole world is like that.