Ed Reed says he thinks he has what it takes to be an NFL head coach. But his only year in coaching, in 2016 in Buffalo, was a disaster.
Reed, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame tonight, said his 2016 season as assistant defensive backs coach under Rex Ryan on the Bills’ staff was a mess. Not because of Ryan, whom Reed still respects, but because of the other assistants.
“I was listening to coaches calling players, ‘Dumb this,’ and [expletives], but you’re not coaching them,” he said, via the Buffalo News. “You’re yelling at them, but you’re not coaching them. You’re mad at them, but you’re not coaching them the proper way. Just ‘paper coaching’ is not the proper way to do it.”
Reed declined to say which of Ryan’s assistants caused problems, but it was a difficult year for him, and a year that saw the whole staff fired at the end.
“You had people that were just hard-headed, man,” Reed said. “Honestly. Just grown men like hard-headed, like don’t want to work with you. I know I have the abilities to be a head coach or D-coordinator. It’s something I wouldn’t mind doing. But it’s tough being a player and going back and doing something like that, because egos get in the way.”
Reed said he would love to coach under Bill Belichick.
As one of the greatest safeties in NFL history, Reed certainly has the knowledge to be a coach, even if his first year as an assistant did not go as planned.
