Taylor Reed (born August 7, 1991) is a

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = " The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , p ...

. He has also been a member of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fie ...

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Starti ...

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the CFL East Division, East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based i ...

, and Houston Roughnecks.

Early years

Reed played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

for the West Brook Senior High School Bruins of

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the seat of government of Jefferson County, within the Beaumont– Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston ( ...

and earned all-district honors.

College career

Reed played in 52 games for the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

from 2009 to 2012, recording 400 total tackles. He was named second-team All-

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

in 2011 and 2012, honorable mention All-Conference USA in 2010 and All-Freshman Conference USA in 2009.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Reed was signed by the

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) on May 10, 2013 after going undrafted in the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall ...

. He was released by the Cowboys on August 30, 2013.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

On October 2, 2013, Reed was signed to the practice squad of the

of the CFL.

Dallas Cowboys (II)

Reed was signed to the Dallas Cowboys practice squad on November 18, 2013. He was released by the Cowboys on November 26, 2013.

New England Patriots

On December 30, 2013, Reed was signed to the practice squad of the

of the NFL. He was signed to a futures contract by the Patriots on January 20, 2014. He was released by the Patriots on March 10, 2014.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Reed was signed by the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

on June 27, 2014. He was named Defensive Player of the Week for week twelve of the

2014 CFL season Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unre ...

after recording six defensive tackles, one tackle for a loss, one special teams tackle and one quarterback sack. In two seasons with the Tiger-Cats Reed played in 33 games contributing 141 defensive tackles, 7 special teams tackles, 10 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions.

Calgary Stampeders

As a

Reed signed with the

of the CFL on February 10, 2016. He was released by the Stampeders on September 12, 2016. Prior to being released he had played in all 10 games to start the 2016 season, contributing 41 tackles, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble. The reason for his release was the exceptional play of national linebacker Alex Singleton.

Ottawa Redblacks

Reed was signed by the

of the CFL on September 13, 2016; only one day after being let go by Calgary. He played in all 8 of the remaining regular season games for Ottawa, and their two playoff games. During the 2016 season with Ottawa he accumulated 39 tackles and 1 quarterback sack. He set a career-high 12 tackles against Winnipeg on October 29. Reed helped lead Ottawa's defense to a championship in the 104th Grey Cup game versus his former team, the

, with a final score of 39-33 in overtime. On January 10, 2017 the Redblacks confirmed they had signed Taylor Reed to a one-year extension. Reed would have become a

on February 14, 2017. In his second season with the Redblacks Reed set a new career high with 94 tackles in 18 games: He also had four sacks. Following the season he was not re-signed by the Redblacks and became a free agent on February 13, 2018.

Toronto Argonauts

After being on the open market for a week Reed and the

agreed to a one-year contract on February 20, 2018. On August 15, 2018, Reed was released by the Argonauts.

Houston Roughnecks

In October 2019, Reed was picked by the Houston Roughnecks in the open phase of the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social ...

References

External links

College statsHamilton Tiger-Cats bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Taylor Living people 1991 births American football linebackers Canadian football linebackers African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football SMU Mustangs football players Dallas Cowboys players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players New England Patriots players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Calgary Stampeders players Ottawa Redblacks players Players of American football from Texas Sportspeople from Beaumont, Texas Toronto Argonauts players Edmonton Elks players Houston Roughnecks players 21st-century African-American sportspeople