How Eric Reid can give the Panthers a leg up in the explosive NFC South

The Panthers secondary will get a big boost from signing Eric Reid.

The Carolina Panthers made a huge in-season addition by signing safety Eric Reid. Reid, a former starter with the San Francisco 49ers, has a chance to help the Panthers in a big way for the remainder of the season.

Carolina felt like it needed to make this move after losing starting safety Da’Norris Searcy to injured reserve with a concussion.

During his five seasons with the 49ers, Reid played all over the defense. He played deep in the middle of the field as a free safety, close to the line of scrimmage as a box safety, defended the slot, and played linebacker last season after injuries forced into that spot.

Reid’s been out of work since March. He later filed a grievance with the NFL for collusion for his inability to sign a contract after being at the forefront of racial injustice protests in the NFL with his former teammate, Colin Kaepernick. Reid is a more than capable player — he’s just 26 years old and already has a Pro Bowl under his belt.

Once Reid gets up to speed, he’ll help shore up the Panthers’ defense, which is easily the best in an explosive and highly competitive NFC South. He could be a starter when the team returns from its bye in Week 5 against the New York Giants.

Here’s how Reid can help Carolina.

Reid can play in space against talented running backs

The Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints both have daunting running back duos that excel at making plays in space. Carolina already played against Atlanta’s Tevin Coleman (Devonta Freeman missed the game with a knee injury) in Week 2, and Coleman was exceptional against the defense. He had 18 carries for 107 yards and contributed in the passing game with four catches for 18 yards in a win for the Falcons — Carolina’s only loss so far this season.

Alvin Kamara has been tearing up the league again and the Saints will get a big boost when Mark Ingram returns from suspension in a week. Carolina still has two games left against New Orleans, a team the Panthers lost to three times last year including in the Wild Card Round.

Adding a player like Reid will help Carolina defend against these dynamic backs. Reid’s speed and awareness is something that the Panthers hadn’t been getting from their safeties, even before Searcy got hurt.

Here, Reid is at the weakside linebacker spot. The Bears are running a slow screen where the running back fakes a pass protection look before slipping outside the tackle box to catch the ball. As soon as Jordan Howard breaks towards where he needs to be to catch the ball, Reid plants his foot in the ground and drives towards Howard. Reid beats the center in space and brings down Howard for a loss.

Combining this type of playmaking with Luke Kuechly, Shaq Thompson, and Thomas Davis when he gets back from suspension will make the Panthers’ middle of the field coverage lethal.

Here’s another example of Reid playing well in space against a running back. Lamar Miller catches a routine route to the flat and Reid is all over it. He brings Miller down a physical hit for a loss of yards.

Outside of playing running backs in space, Reid was also effective against tight ends.

Reid is matchup weapon against tight ends

The NFC South has a handful of talented tight ends outside of Carolina. O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate, Austin Hooper, and Benjamin Watson are all formidable passing targets — the Panthers needed someone who can play these bigger bodies at critical points on the field.

Reid is matched up against Jermaine Gresham in the red zone on this play. Gresham is running a route up the seam right toward Reid so he has a chance to box him out at the catch point and bring in the ball for a touchdown. Reid plays this ball perfectly — he times the jump, positions himself next to Gresham, and outmuscles him for the interception in the end zone.

Reid can also run with tight ends on deep routes down the field. This pass breakup on Evan Engram came on third-and-3 when the Giants were driving down the field trying to come back and win the game.

Eli Manning throws a phenomenal pass after evading pressure. He put the ball on Engram’s back shoulder giving him a chance to catch the ball for a big gain while protecting him from the free safety (#38) rotating over the top. Reid sees Engram reaching for the ball and plays his hand through Engram’s hand for the pass breakup.

This is a high difficult play — Reid never got a chance to see the pass until it was in Engram’s hands.

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The defenses in the NFC South are in complete disarray right now. The Saints pass defense is the worst in the league after the first three weeks, and they just lost corner Patrick Robinson for the rest of the season with a fractured ankle.

The Falcons are without Deion Jones for eight weeks and both of their starting safeties (Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen) for the rest of the year. They definitely could’ve used Reid’s services, but they opted to bring back former undrafted free agent Sharrod Neasman instead.

The Bucs secondary has been getting torched, just like last year. Tampa Bay also lost starting safety Chris Conte to a season-ending injury after his collision with Vance McDonald on Monday night. Even if everyone was healthy for the Bucs, Reid would’ve been a huge upgrade over what they have.

Carolina has had some secondary issues, but this will help. The Panthers already had the best defense in the NFC South and now they’ve added a more than capable defender in Eric Reid, who has been the best free agent safety available for more than six months. If the Reid signing works out for Carolina, the rest of the division will be kicking themselves for letting a talented player slip to a division rival.