All of the sudden, the Buffalo Bills are building a pretty interesting coaching staff. Then again, things are always interesting when Rex Ryan is at the helm. After bringing in his brother Rob Ryan earlier in the week to help run the team’s defense, Rex has made another move to further help the Buffalo stop unit.
The team announced today that they were going to add former Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed to be an assistant defensive backs coach. Adding Reed may be a huge addition for the Bills, as the future Hall of Famer was one of the best safeties to ever play the game of football.
Over his storied 12-year career, Reed was the best safety in the game year in and year out. A nine time Pro Bowler, Reed led the league in interceptions three times and totaled an amazing 64 picks throughout the years. He also managed 141 pass defenses and was just a terrific ball hawk. Opposing quarterbacks legitimately feared throwing the ball anywhere near Reed.
Now, Reed is going to get a chance to teach a group of young defensive backs what he knows. The Bills have some very promising young players including but not limited to top cornerback Stephon Gilmore, rookie phenom cornerback Ronald Darby, and a couple of good young safeties Aaron Williams and Bacarri Rambo. Reed should have an impact on these young players if he is given the chance to work with them, and perhaps they will all be better ball hawks by the start of the 2016 season.
Of course, the secondary was not the weakness of the Buffalo defense, but it cannot hurt to add one of the all-time greats just to see if he can improve them. If Reed can help the secondary to improve, then the Ryan brothers’ job of fixing the front seven will be a lot easier. All of the new coaches should be able to help out the Bills’ defense, which should be much better in 2016 than it was in 2015.
When it is all said and done, there is no downside to adding Reed. Rex Ryan has coached him twice in the past with the Ravens and the New York Jets, so he knows what kind of coach Reed is going to be. The team already has a good defensive coaching staff and a talented secondary anyway. If Reed pans out as a coach, then he may have a major impact on the team. If not, the players will just play how they played this past season, and even that would be a stellar result for the Bills.
