Ed Reed just accepted his first NFL coaching job with the Buffalo Bills last week - he'll be the team's assistant defensive backs coach in 2016 - but head coach Rex Ryan expects much bigger things from the future first-ballot Hall of Fame defensive back in the near future.
"Even late in his career, when he wasn't the player he once was - he was coming from the very top of the mountain, but he was still an effective player - but it was the other things that he did in leading players. That's where I was like, the sky's the limit for him. Within five or six years, he may very well be a head coach in this league," Ryan told BuffaloBills.com this week.
That's high praise for a first-time coach whose only experience to draw on, other than his playing career, is running his annual football camp.
"I think having the presence of an Ed Reed - he's kind of like the Pied Piper," Ryan said of his former player. "Even when we had him the last year of his playing career with the Jets, all those players followed him, because they all want to get better. What Ed can really bring to this is teaching how to study film, study opponents, different things from a player's perspective that I think will be great."
Reed is part of a re-tooled defensive coaching staff that will also see defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman and defensive backs coach Tim McDonald working with members of the secondary on a routine basis.