Taylor Reed (born August 7, 1991) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

who played in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

. He was 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

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 (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

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 (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

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

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

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

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

, and Houston Roughnecks.

Early life

Reed played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

for the

West Brook Senior High School West Brook Senior High School is a high school in the city of Beaumont, Texas. It is operated by the Beaumont Independent School District and was formed in 1982 as a court-ordered measure to integrate the schools of the formerly separate South Pa ...

Bruins of

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

and earned all-district honors.

College career

Reed played in 52 games for the

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

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

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

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

Professional career

Reed was signed by the

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(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 in ...

. He was released by the Cowboys on August 30, 2013. On October 2, 2013, Reed was signed to the practice squad of the

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

of the

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

2014 CFL season The 2014 CFL season was the 61st season of modern-day Canadian football. It was the 57th Canadian Football League season. Vancouver hosted the 102nd Grey Cup on November 30. The league expanded to nine teams with the addition of the Ottawa Red ...

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. As a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

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. 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 The 104th Grey Cup (branded as the 104th Grey Cup presented by Shaw for sponsorship reasons) was a Canadian football game that was played on November 27, 2016, between the Calgary Stampeders and the Ottawa Redblacks, that decided the champion for ...

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. 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. Reed signed with the

on September 24, 2018. He was released on May 3, 2019. In October 2019, Reed was picked by the Houston Roughnecks in the open phase of the 2020 XFL Draft.

References

External links

College statsHamilton Tiger-Cats bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Taylor Living people 1991 births American football linebackers Canadian football linebackers 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 Beaumont, Texas Toronto Argonauts players Edmonton Elks players Houston Roughnecks players 21st-century African-American sportsmen Players of Canadian football from Texas