Justin Reid: 'No Limit' for Week 1 vs. Ravens in Return from Quad Injury

Despite missing all of the preseason and a big chunk of training camp, Justin Reid feels that he's good to go for Week 1's game against the Ravens.

Feb 11, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid (20) reacts after a play against the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

With the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 1 game against the Baltimore Ravens on the horizon, the back-to-back Super Bowl champs got some good news on the injury front on Sunday. Only wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown will miss practice, meaning everyone else will work in some capacity.

That includes safety Justin Reid, who has been back to work for a while now after he opened training camp on the non-football injury list. It forced Reid to miss the entire preseason, although he returned to practice before the team came back to Kansas City.

Now well over a month removed from his quad ailment, Reid spoke to the media for the first time in weeks. The seventh-year man described his injury as a pull, which neither he nor the Chiefs' staff wanted to push too far.

"Just had a quad injury, pull," Reid said. "Just wanted to play it smart and safe. I had a couple of years in the system already, so there was no reason to try and overextend myself to the point where I made the injury worse. The primary focus was just getting back healthy, and our training room did a great job of that. We took our time with it. This past week has been really good for me to get my feet back underneath me and be ready to go Thursday."

When asked about his readiness for a full Week 1 workload, Reid had zero doubt.

"Oh yeah, absolutely," Reid said. "No limit. We're going to be out there flying around. I would not play if I did not feel like I would be an asset to the team to help us win."

Reid's timely recovery is music to the Chiefs' ears. In two seasons with the club, he's played over 2,000 regular-season snaps on the back end of Steve Spagnuolo's defense and logged plenty more in the playoffs. Dating back to 2022, he has 178 tackles and has emerged as a trusted leader in the secondary.

This year's safety group is loaded with talent, even behind Reid. With Bryan Cook back from a season-ending ankle injury and Chamarri Conner now in year No. 2, there's ample depth to help attempt to offset the loss of L'Jarius Sneed at the cornerback spot. For example, Conner could spend some time as the nickel option in 2024-25. The Chiefs will also have to find ways for fourth-round rookie Jaden Hicks to see the field, giving Spagnuolo and defensive backs coach Dave Merritt a good problem to have.

In addition to defensive tackle Chris Jones and linebacker Nick Bolton, however, Reid is the heart and soul of the Chiefs' defense. His combination of experience, leadership and processing is hard to replace in the aggregate. Having him healthy is paramount if Kansas City wants to achieve its ultimate goal of winning a third Super Bowl in a row.

Their first test comes against a tough Ravens team that hosted these same Chiefs in January's AFC Championship Game. This time around, it's banner-raising night at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. With his legs back and health on his side, Reid is approaching the first contest of the season like any other throughout the year.

"Just stay dialed in," Reid said. "Conditioning, more than anything, but just stay dialed in. At the end of the day, it's just another football game and when you treat it that way and don't make the stage too big to where you have deer-in-the-headlight eyes, it allows you to remain calm and it allows your leaders to step up and be able to lead guys and help make plays."

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