<dl class="byline"><span class="byline"><h2>Reed enters sixth season feeling fresh</h2><p class="subhead">Ravens free safety takes on role of mentor for team's younger players By Edward Lee | Sun reporter 4:03 PM EDT, August 7, 2007 </p></span></dl><div id="module-article-tools"><div id="list-box"><h4></h4></div></div><p id="story-body">In five seasons in the NFL, Ravens free safety Ed Reed has been named to three Pro Bowls, won AP's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2004, and earned a contract that makes him the highest-paid player at his position. And yet Reed, who will turn 29 on Sept. 11, said he still feels like a first-year player. "It still seems like it was yesterday for me," he said recently. "When we come back to training camp, I always feel like a rookie. Because it's not new things going in, but just taking that whole mentality for everything to be fresh for me, [so] I can continue to get better the way I want to." </p><div class="rail"><div id="module-related-links"></div></div><p id="story-body2">Considering what Reed has accomplished since the Ravens selected the former University of Miami safety with the 24th overall pick in the 2002 draft, getting better seems almost impossible. His 27 career interceptions and 750 interception return yards make him the leader in franchise history. Reed, who signed a six-year, $40 million contract extension in 2006, has averaged 74.6 tackles, and that includes an injury-shortened 2005 campaign when he registered just 40 tackles and one interception in 10 games. That, and his knowledge of the game, is why young safeties like Dawan Landry, Jamaine Winborne and Bobby Blackshire seek out Reed for counsel. "He's a tremendous leader and he's a student of the game and he's communicating with those guys back there," linebacker Bart Scott said. "I think the guys like Landry and the young guys and safeties that are out there who aspire to be like Ed Reed one day [are] really learning from his communication and his knowledge of football." Winborne said there were many times during practice last season when he would have trouble with an "inside stack" formation, a favorite of offenses in the red zone. He would jump an inside route run by a wide receiver, but that allowed another receiver to run a post route in the area which Winborne had just vacated. "We sat down at his house and watched the film," Winborne said. "He just kind of talked to me and from there, it just kind of stuck there. Now you can't get me with the inside stack. "He's been an inspiration for me," Winborne said. "The advice he gives me is the same thing that he would do, and sometimes that's good. But sometimes it's not so good because you can't do everything exactly the way that Ed Reed does them. ... I've learned a lot from him." Reed had 66 tackles, five interceptions, including one for a touchdown, and a forced fumble last season -- numbers that were good enough to send him to the Pro Bowl for the third time. But Reed was at times criticized for taking too many risks by straying from his assignment. In a loss to the Carolina Panthers, wide receiver Steve Smith hauled in a 72-yard touchdown pass because Reed wasn't playing deep enough on the coverage. Reed has acknowledged that the secondary must improve its communication skills to avoid similar breakdowns this season. "We have a lot of things we can get better on, and communication is definitely one that you have to stay up on because those are the little small things that we messed up on last year -- [when] we gave up touchdowns that we shouldn't have given up," he said. "It's small things that we've been working on to help ourselves." But Reed also vowed to preserve the style of play that has earned him a reputation as a ballhawk. "I play with instincts," he said. "I'm never going to change my game or how I play. But at the same time, I play within the defense and choose when and when not to go and make a play." Reed demonstrated the ability to make a play when he tied a franchise postseason record with two interceptions in the playoff loss to the Indianapolis Colts. "The hard thing with Ed is he's been so good for so long, you think he's 35 and he's been here forever because he was good from jump street," coach Brian Billick said. "You don't realize just how young he really is. So, I'm sure he'll tell you there's still some upside, but it's kind of scary if he ever taps into it because he's pretty good right now."</p>
