The blend never screamed can’t miss, and plenty of folks have ended up missing on Karene Reid.
Cary Whittingham rattled it off, the memory of a linebacker who came to Utah’s Timpview High first as a physically underdeveloped underdog to his brother Gabe. Reid, as Whittingham described, was not especially tall (now 6-foot). Not especially thick (now 226 pounds). Not especially fast. No off-the-charts raw measurables.
“The thought was, ‘Yeah, he’s a great player, and he’s going to continue to play after high school,” Whittingham recalled. “But it’s hard to translate that into saying, ‘Yes, this kid’s an NFL player.’”
Years later, though, Sean Payton and the Broncos saw a “draftable player” — as Payton put it — within a profile that never really changed. For an hour in late April, after Reid slipped through the cracks of the NFL draft, they stiff-armed other teams to sell the Utah product on Denver. They didn’t just pitch guaranteed money, Reid’s agent Lance Moore recalled. They pitched a vision.
Reid’s pushed that vision further than most expected. Payton, a coach with a long track record of post-draft hits, took one single undrafted free agent from this year’s crop onto Denver’s initial 53-man roster. It wasn’t the toolsy receivers, like Joaquin Davis or Courtney Jackson, who crafted big plays throughout camp. It wasn’t fellow ILB Jordan Turner.
It was Reid, a player with no real standout physical strengths but no real standout mental weaknesses.
“He’s a coach’s dream,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham, Cary’s brother, told The Denver Post. “He does everything right.”
Ask most anyone in the New Orleans Saints’ building over the last couple of decades, and the traits Payton values most in undrafted rookies — or really any player — are IQ, toughness, and love of ball. Reid isn’t one to make the same mistake twice, Kyle Whittingham said. After initially signing at Utah State back in 2018 and taking a year-long church mission, Reid pivoted, walked on at Utah, and wound up starting six games his first year as a Ute.
“He’s tough as nails,” Utah’s coach Whittingham said. “Doesn’t have the greatest size … but very instinctual. His football IQ is off the charts.
“He’s going to out-prepare everybody.”
Reid was named a two-time second-team All-Pac-12 selection in his four years at Utah, and was heady enough to raise the antenna of Denver’s scouting staff and Payton himself. Moore, now Reid’s agent, was once an undrafted rookie who became a thousand-yard receiver for Payton in New Orleans. He called Moore directly, post-draft. Moore knew Payton was serious.
Payton had scouts compile nearly two decades’ worth of statistical information on his team’s propensity for undrafted free-agent success. Moore didn’t much need to see it.
“He did basically say, like, ‘Look, there’s a blueprint here,’” Moore told The Post back in May. “‘And you were a part of that blueprint, almost 20 years ago.’”
Reid is that blueprint’s next phase, 20 years later, whatever role he plays for Denver this season. He’s showcased notable ball skills throughout camp and the preseason, and he has earned a heap of reps as Dre Greenlaw and Alex Singleton ramp back up from injuries. He beat out Turner, who sparkled in Denver’s Week 2 preseason game against Arizona. He beat out returning Levelle Bailey, whom most had pegged as a lock on Denver’s 53-man roster.
And a player who’s rarely turned heads at first glance has turned plenty of heads in Dove Valley, behind closed doors.
“Me and Brandon Jones talk, when we would watch our film throughout camp: ‘Who is this kid?’ ” cornerback Riley Moss said Wednesday.
Marvin Mims Jr. exits practice: The Broncos’ ostensible WR2 was seen walking off at Wednesday’s practice with a slight limp, accompanied by trainers. Payton said after practice, Mims was being evaluated for a groin injury, but didn’t expect it to be serious.
Cornerback Jahdae Barron and linebacker Justin Strnad were both back after missing Tuesday’s practice.
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