After starting 53 games for the Texans over the past four seasons, Justin Reid is set to hit free agency for the first time in his career. If the Texans have their way, they’ll re-sign the 25-year-old safety.

“I’ve talked to his representatives, we’ve had some dialogue,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio said today (via Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com). “I’m certainly open to bringing Justin back. Justin is a good player. He’s well thought of around the league. I know he has a lot of respect for Lovie. He had an opportunity to play in his system. If he has an opportunity to come back here, it’s another year in the same system.

“Free agency is free agency, so the market dictates where players fit and how they fall. We’ll evaluate everything. Justin is a good player and he’s done a lot of good things for the team and in the community so we’ll see how it goes in the next couple of weeks.”

One source told Wilson that Reid is expected to have a “healthy enough market” when he hits free agency, with the Bears, Eagles, and Ravens mentioned as potential suitors. In fact, the league source believed the market for the safety could be so robust that it’d be “financially inadvisable” for the player to stick around Houston. However, the promotion of Lovie Smith could be a “game-changer” when it comes to Reid’s mentality heading into free agency.

The younger brother of Eric Reid, Justin Reid was a third-round pick out of Stanford in 2018. He’s spent his entire four year career with the Texans, snagging seven interceptions and collecting 23 passes defended. This included a 2021 campaign where Reid started all 13 games and collected 66 tackles and two picks.

According to a recent report, the Texans expect Justin Reid to sign elsewhere this offseason. But, for his part, the safety says he’s open to staying in Houston (Twitter link via SiriusXM). 

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The 25-year-old is “not opposed to the idea of staying” with the Texans, though he stopped short of any guarantees. Last season, David Culley benched Reid for a game, citing a violation of team rules. Reid didn’t take kindly to that, but Culley has since been replaced by new head coach Lovie Smith.

“Honestly, it made a bigger impact than I would have thought it would have,” said Reid. “I didn’t know he was in the running [but] I think he’s more than qualified. He’s done it before, he’s been to a Super Bowl and he gets guys to play hard for him…I actually have a deep love and respect for [Smith], his coaching philosophy, [and] the way he’s able to get the best out of his players.”

As far as Reid is concerned, the Smith hire was a “tremendous move” for GM Nick Caserio & Co. So, if the Texans are willing to make him a competitive offer, he’s willing to listen.

Given his age and past performance, Reid should garner a fair amount of attention. Teams may be more focused on the rest of the safety class which features Tyrann Mathieu, Jessie Bates, and Quandre Diggs, but the Stanford product would come at a much lower rate. On the flipside, teams may be concerned about his injury history, which includes a wrist ailment in 2021 and labrum surgery in 2020.

For his career, Reid has 315 tackles to his credit with seven total interceptions. He also upped his pass coverage this year with an improved completion rate of 53%.

The safety class could feature quite a few notable names in free agency. One of those is Justin Reid, who, as Sarah Barshop of ESPN notes, is likely to head elsewhere on the open market. 

Specifically, Barshop writes that “the Texans don’t expect Reid to be back in 2022”, as his rookie contract is set to expire. The team couldn’t agree on a new deal at any point with the 25-year-old, who was benched in a violation of team rules following a disagreement with then-head coach David Culley this past season.

Injuries have been a constant in Reid’s NFL career up to this point. He has undergone offseason surgery twice – most recently in 2020 to repair a torn labrum – and finished the 2021 campaign on IR with a wrist injury, though he has mostly been able to play through pain, earning the Ed Block Courage Award in 2019. In four seasons, Reid has suited up for 57 of a possible 65 games, demonstrating his value along the way.

Since becoming a starter shortly into his rookie season, Reid has been on the field for no less than 90% of the Texans’ defensive snaps. While it was cut short, 2021 did also see an improvement from him in pass coverage, as he allowed a completion percentage of 53%. Overall, Reid has packed the stat sheet with a total of 315 tackles, seven interceptions and 23 pass breakups with the Texans.

Reid likely won’t garner the attention or salary of the likes of Tyrann Mathieu, Jessie Bates and Quandre Diggs in the coming weeks, but he would represent a quality addition to the back end of almost any defense in the league.