As Ed Reed prepares to take his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, teammates, friends and coaches from his Ravens, college and high school years reflect on the legacy of the legendary Ravens safety with their favorite memories and never-before-heard stories. 

Gary Baxter
As told to Glenn Clark
Gary Baxter was a cornerback for the Ravens from 2001-2004.

I want to say it was against the Cincinnati Bengals where Ed had I think it was either an interception or a fumble, but he was running it back and I was behind him, and we had a receiver — he hadn’t made it to the end zone yet and he started showboating and he held the ball out. And I could see the receiver running toward him and I’m screaming, “Ed, Ed! The receiver! He’s behind you!” And I’m running, and all of the sudden you see the receiver hit the ball out of Ed’s hands, it goes into the end zone and it’s a touchback. We laughed and joked about that. He was like, “Why didn’t you just try to come up?” I was like, “I was screaming trying to let you know that the guy was behind you!” It was pretty hilarious with the team and the head coach kind of giving him a little time — a little moment with the team — on Monday, but it was fun. Ed is a great guy, man. I’m so excited and happy for this guy.

There were a couple times he was supposed to be in certain spots and he wasn’t, and you’re like, “Where’s he at?” And the next thing you know he’s making a play, and I’m like, “Oh! That’s right, there’s the ball! Go get it then!” We have to know that we can trust Ed to be there, but you better be aware on your own because he’s going to go and find the ball. We were always playing to that and let him go be Ed Reed.

To read more memories of No. 20, visit PressBoxOnline.com/Reed.

Photo Credit: Sabina Moran/PressBox 

Issue 255: June/July 2019

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