The Carolina Panthers have announced the signing of former San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid.
What We Know:
- Reid spent nearly seven months on the open market after becoming a free agent in March. While the market for free agent safeties was slow to develop this offseason, there was some debate on the reason for the lack of interest in Reid. Many believe his involvement in protesting against social injustice during pre-game national anthems has kept NFL teams from entertaining the option fo signing him.
- Reid has already stated that he will cease kneeling during the national anthem in 2018. He visited with the Cincinnati Bengals earlier in the offseason but was not signed and the Tennessee Titans expressed some interest.
“We understand you have to change with the times,” Reid said while speaking with reporters following Stanford’s pro day in March. “I’m not saying I’m going to stop being active because I won’t. I’m just going to consider different ways to be active, different ways to bring awareness to the issues of this country and improve on the issues happening in this country.
“I don’t think it will be in the form of protesting during the anthem. I say ‘during’ because it’s crazy that the narrative changed to we were ‘protesting the anthem,’ and that wasn’t the case. I think we’re going to take a different approach to how we’re going to be active.”
- Reid was named to the Pro Bowl and the PFWA All-Rookie Team following the 2013 season. Over his five-year NFL career, he has 70 game appearances while starting all but one of those games and registered 318 combined tackles, 10 interceptions, a sack, 34 passes defensed, and two forced fumbles.
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