Jordan Reed Has Been in Concussion Protocol for 6 Months So He Needs to Retire ASAP
By Sam Dunn
Jordan Reed's football career has been a confounding one. A quarterback in high school, he made the transition to tight end in college and even parlayed his combination of size and athleticism into a Pro Bowl berth in 2016 with the Washington Redskins. Injuries have consistently weighed him down since turning pro, however, and new head coach Ron Rivera dropped a concerning update Monday when he revealed that Reed is still in concussion protocol for an injury he suffered all the way back in August.
If that sounds troubling, that's because it is. And at this point, the best thing Reed can do for himself is retire from football.
#Redskins HC Ron Rivera told @JourdanRodrigue that TE Jordan Reed is still in concussion protocol. The concussion happened on August 22 in a preseason game vs. Atlanta. This was the play... pic.twitter.com/QxKPBpjouG
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) February 17, 2020
Having to miss an entire season because of a concussion is bad enough, but the fact that he's still not cleared to return to action almost six full months after sustaining the original injury during the 2019 NFL preseason is the reddest of red flags.
You'd hate to think the Redskins would ever be in a position to put him in harm's way. You don't have to be a football fan to hope it never comes to that.
Checked in with some folks about Jordan Reed’s status - Even in concussion protocol Redskins can release him. Reed could be eligible for CBA's injury protection benefit of $1.2M if he isn't cleared to play in 2020. His contract also might contain some injury guarantees.
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) February 17, 2020
This is a man who already had injury issues working against him before this latest concussion setback. In six seasons as an active player, he's never appeared in more than 14 games, and has only appeared in more than a dozen games twice. Head injuries are nothing to fool around with, especially for a 29-year-old with so much of his life still ahead of him. It may be time to accept that playing football is just too dangerous of a proposition for this man going forward.