Brooks Reed Leaning Towards Falcons?

TUESDAY, 7:23am: According to McClure (via Twitter), it’s no longer a sure thing that Reed is leaning toward the Falcons. It’ll ultimately come down to money, says McClure.

MONDAY, 10:56pm: Reed has narrowed his decision to two teams, with one of them presumably being the Falcons, tweets Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com.

12:05pm: The Cardinals, Jets, Raiders, and Bears are also expressing interest in Reed, Mark Berman of FOX 26 tweets.

11:51am: Linebacker Brooks Reed is leaning toward signing with the Falcons when free agency opens on Tuesday, according to Rand Getlin of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Last week, Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com reported that Reed was unlikely to return to Houston this offseason. In fact, as of a few days ago, Houston had yet to engage with Reed’s agent.

Reed, 28, appeared in all 16 games for Houston last season and made 13 starts. In total, he recorded 41 tackles, four passes defended, and three sacks as the team’s SAM linebacker. The advanced metrics placed Reed as an above average outside linebacker, ranking him as the 26th best OLB in a 3-4 scheme out of 46 players who qualified, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). That’s a big improvement from 2013 when PFF gave Reed an overall grade of -17.7, placing him as the second-worst qualified outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme.

The former second round pick burst onto the scene with 6.0 sacks as a rookie in 2011, but he has yet to replicate that kind of production.

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