
Please think about Jordan Reed, the man
Just for one second
Jordan Reed is a tight end for the Washington Redskins.
He’s 27 years old, stand 6-feet, 4-inches tall and weighs 240 pounds.
He ran a 4.62 40-yard dash at his pro day, and works out until he pukes.
His five-year contract guarantees that he’ll make $22 million.
And he has never played 14 games in a season, much less 16, because of injuries.
All of the above, as well as the photo at the top of this post, is from a profile by Greg Bishop in this week’s Sports Illustrated that deftly uses Reed as a microcosm of what the NFL has become — ever-larger, faster and stronger athletes whose size, strength and speed make them more susceptible to injury.
And then there’s this.
“He says he’s more disappointed in himself than are his fantasy football owners, who annually weigh Reed’s injury risk against his statistical rewards. When he’s hurt, he feels as if he’s let his team and his family down.”
Reed could have addressed his injury history by simply saying he feels like he’s letting his team, his family and himself down. Yet he felt the need to say — and Bishop the need to write — that he takes being injured harder than people playing fake games with their fake teams.
Yet I don’t blame either Reed or Bishop. They both know that to way too many people, Reed is just a collection of statistics that he can’t compile if he’s too hurt to play.

