Healthy Texans safety Jaylen Reed: 'I have the mindset, ability'

Breaking crisply on the football, Texans safety Jaylen Reed accelerated with a gear he aspired for as a rookie.

Hard work is paying dividends for Reed, who had his moments during his first NFL season while also dealing with a broken metal plate in his forearm that required surgery.

Healthy again and noticeably ligher, Reed is moving well at training camp and competing for playing time behind starting safeties Calen Bullock and Reed Blankenship. He's also the personal protector on punts, an important job assignment.

"Really just staying ready for my opportunity," Reed said. "Not really worrying about anything else. Just control what I can control. I feel like I have the talent. I have the mindset. I have the ability to do anything I want this year."

The health factor is huge for Reed. There's a big difference in him. Especially how he's been able to move faster.

"I wanted to get my body right," Reed said. "Last season, I was kind of off and on. I was injured a little bit in the beginning, came back, got injured again, came back again. So, I didn't really have a full year of training and getting my body ready for atrue NFL season. So, this offseason I put a lot of time and work into that."

Reed recorded 14 tackles and one fumble recovery in seven games. He started the season on the physically unable to perform list with a knee injury. Then, he injure his forearm against the Indianapolis Colts and was placed on injured reserve. He was activated for the playoffs.

"Elite safety," elite private defensive backs trainer Jacory Nichols said. "He's had some injuries. He's ready now."

Reed, a hard-hitting former sixth-round pick from Penn State where he was a second-team All-Big Ten selection, was named a starter after recording 11 tackles and a fumble recovery against the Buffalo Bills.

"I'm definitely proud of myself, but I have a higher standard for myself," Reed said. "I'm looking forward to getting that ball and taking the ball away this year a lot. And doing a lot of work on special teams for my team.

"Whatever it takes, whatever I got to do, whatever my role is, I'm going to attack it, take advantage of my role and not pout about it, no complaint. Just control what I control and just keep going. That's all I'm going to do."

Reed got hurt in a road game against the Colts, aggravating a forearm injury as a metal place got displaced while tackling Jonathan Taylor.

Now, the Texans have good plans for him after regaining his health.

"Young player, second year, he was able to play more snaps for us towards the end of the year until he had an injury," Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. "But man, he’s been lights out when it comes to his communication, starting with the punt team communication for us, put a lot on their plate. He’s handled it really well, done a great job in the meetings and also making it translate to the field. So, I just love to see the growth. That’s what is expected."

The work with Nichols and his teammates is invaluable to Reed.

" Us bonding, getting together, getting to work. working on our techniques that we're going to use during the season with our coaches," Reed said. "Jacory does a great job of translating that into his drills, into his workouts. We tell him what we need and what we need to do and he does a great job of translating it, so it's good."

The Texans secondary could be the best in the NFL with Derek Stingley Jr., Kamari Lassiter, Reed Blankenship, Calen Bullock and Jalen Pitre as the starters. Plus, there's plenty of depth.

"I feel like last year we already had a special secondary," Reed said. "We just added on, added a few guys. One of our vets and leaders now, Reed Blankenship. Just added a bunch of pieces. We've got Jaylin Smith back, he's healthy. We got a lot of pieces that's coming back.

"We're going to be even better than last year. It's going to be a special season, not just the defense. I feel like we added a couple of things on the offensive line and running back. I feel like we did a great job there. I'm excited to see what's going to happen.

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and Sports Talk 790. He has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AaronWilsonSport