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. 

Phil Savage 
As told to Glenn Clark Radio

Phil Savage was the Ravens’ director of college scouting when the team selected Reed with the 24th overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. Savage was also the director of player personnel from 2003-2004. 

We were definitely sitting on Napoleon Harris, the outside ‘backer from Northwestern, and we were switching to the 3-4 defense. Remember, Mike Nolan had taken over as our defensive coordinator. Napoleon Harris was going to be our choice, and then the Raiders took him at No. 23 and so the next player on our list was Ed Reed. We sort of just looked at our board. The best football player up there is Ed Reed, I guess we’ll take him.

We just sort of innocently took him, knowing that he really did have some special traits coming out of Miami. I had scouted there every August for the three previous years and just watched this No. 20 make all these plays in practice and then he would show up on video. But we were very lucky, we were very fortunate that day that the Raiders took Napoleon Harris because we had him above Ed Reed, unbelievably speaking now. Ed obviously showed up and was a tremendous player from the moment he arrived in Owings Mills until the time he left.

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

Photo Credit: Sabina Moran/PressBox 

Issue 255: June/July 2019

PressBox

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