Brooks Reed, LB/DE

[backrow]

a welcome blurb from rotoworld. all the best to Brooks and Texans whiter defense!

Coach Gary Kubiak praised rookie OLB Brooks Reed as the one player showing the "most vast improvement from day-to-day, practice-to-practice and game-to-game."

Reed is still transitioning from defensive end to edge rusher, but the early returns are impressive. The second-rounder recorded two sacks, two hurries, and two forced fumbles against the Saints Saturday night. Expected to back up Connor Barwin, Reed's biggest rookie-year impact will come on special teams.


Source: Houston Examiner
Aug 23 - 10:07 PM

and another good article.

 

[Don Wassall]

The new regime in Houston is moving Brooks Reed inside to play next to Brian Cushing.

Biggest Offseason Move: Moving OLB Brooks Reed to ILB

Houston's biggest move is one few people have even realized is happening. Since trading inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans to Philadelphia prior to the 2012 season, they have struggled to find a good inside linebacker to play next to and compliment Brian Cushing. This has been a major issue over the last two seasons, because when Cushing was injured, they lacked a frontline starter to maintain continuity at the inside linebacker position.

To solve this problem, the Texans made the bold move of moving outside linebacker Brooks Reed inside. While many linebackers move between inside and outside alignments, Reed has primarily been an outside linebacker for his entire college and professional career whose forte was going forward, attacking the play and rushing the passer. It will definitely be a challenge for Reed to adjust to reading the keys from a different alignment, but even more difficult will be his having to become a true two-gap linebacker who is strong at the point of attack and needs to excel in run defense and short area pass coverage before contributing as a pass rusher.

There will definitely be ups and downs as Reed adjusts to playing inside, but with his size, strength, smarts, instincts and pass rush skills it could turn out to be a brilliant move. The most successful 3-4 defenses usually have two high-end starting inside linebackers that add versatility with their ability to rush the passer, so with Reed and Cushing the Texans could have the most physical pairing of inside linebackers in the NFL.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/articl...en-drafted-jadeveon-clowney-tom-savage#!0JYiV

 

[Liverlips]

As I recall, injuries really hurt these guys last year in terms of white players.