Eric Todd Reid Jr. (born December 10, 1991) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for LSU Tigers, receiving consensus All-American recognition. He was selected in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers, with whom he made the 2014 Pro Bowl.
Reid was born to Eric Reid Sr. and Sharon Reid in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Dutchtown High School in Geismar, Louisiana, where he played football, basketball, and ran track. In football, he recorded 78 tackles, nine sacks, four interceptions, and three fumble recoveries as a junior. As a senior, he received Louisiana Class 5A All-state honors after registering 45 tackles and three interceptions. He played in the 2010 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Also a standout track & field athlete, Reid followed in his father's footsteps to excel in the hurdling events while at Dutchtown. His father was the 1987 NCAA Champion while at LSU. In sprints, he set a personal record time of 6.69 seconds in the 55-meter dash at the 2009 LSU High School Indoor Classic. In the hurdling events, he placed 4th in the 55-meter hurdles at the 2009 High School Last Chance Qualifier, with a personal record time of 8.00 seconds. His career-best time of 14.2 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2010 Dutchtown 4-way Meet, where he won gold.
Reid enrolled at Louisiana State University, where he played for coach Les Miles's LSU Tigers football team from 2010 to 2012. As a freshman in 2010, Reid played in 13 games with three starts. He finished the season with 32 tackles and two interceptions. As a first-year starter as a sophomore in 2011, Reid recorded 76 tackles, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles. He was named a second-team All-American by Rivals.com and was a second-team All-SEC selection by the Associated Press.
As a junior in 2012, he started all 13 games at safety and finished third on the team in tackles with 91 (42 unassisted), two interceptions, and seven pass breakups. He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from the American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America, ESPN, and Scout.com, and second-team honors from the Associated Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation, Athlon Sports, CBSsports.com, and Sports Illustrated. He was also a first-team All-SEC selection.
Coming out of LSU, Reid was projected to be a first- or second-round pick by a majority of NFL draft experts and scouts. He received an invitation to the NFL combine and completed all of the required combine and positional drills. On March 27, 2013, he opted to participate at LSU's pro day, and chose to perform positional drills, the 40-yard dash (4.50), 20-yard dash (2.60), and 10-yard dash (1.54) for the scouts and team representatives in attendance. He was ranked the second best free safety in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com, the third best safety prospect by NFL analyst Mike Mayock, and the fourth best safety in the draft by Sports Illustrated.
The San Francisco 49ers selected Reid in the first round (18th overall) of the 2013 NFL draft. In order to select Reid, the 49ers traded their first- (31st overall) and third-round picks (74th overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft to the Dallas Cowboys. He was the second safety selected behind Kenny Vaccaro (15th overall, Saints) and the second of six LSU players selected in the first three rounds, breaking the NFL draft record. A total of nine players from LSU were drafted in 2013, setting a new school record.
On July 5, 2013, the San Francisco 49ers signed Reid to a fully guaranteed four-year, $8.48 million contract that included a signing bonus of $4.54 million.
Reid was drafted to become the starting free safety after the San Francisco 49ers had lost Dashon Goldson, who opted to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during free agency. Reid competed with veterans Craig Dahl and C. J. Spillman throughout training camp, in an effort to win the job as the starting free safety. Head coach Jim Harbaugh named him the starting free safety to start the 2013 season.
In his professional regular season debut and first career start in the San Francisco 49ers' season-opener against the Green Bay Packers, he recorded seven solo tackles and a pass deflection, and intercepted a pass attempt by Aaron Rodgers during the 34–28 victory. The following week he earned two solo tackles, defended a pass, and made his second career interception, picking off a pass attempt by Seattle Seahawks' quarterback Russell Wilson in the 49ers' 29–3 loss. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish the game after suffering a concussion.
In Week 6, Reid collected three combined tackles, deflected a pass, recovered a fumble, and intercepted a pass attempt by Carson Palmer and returned it 53 yards, as the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 32–20. On December 29, 2013, he earned a season-high ten combined tackles and defended a pass during the 49ers' 23–20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. He finished his rookie season with 77 combined tackles (62 solo), 11 pass deflections, and four interceptions in 16 games and 16 starts. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team. Reid was voted to be an alternate for the 2014 Pro Bowl.
The 49ers finished second in the NFC West with a 12–4 record under Jim Harbaugh in 2013. On January 5, 2014, Reid started in his first career playoff game and recorded nine combined tackles en route to a 23–20 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wildcard game. On January 19, 2014, the 49ers played the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship and Reid made four combined tackles in the 23–17 loss. On January 21, 2014, it was reported that Reid would be replacing Kam Chancellor in the 2014 Pro Bowl.
Reid competed with rookie Jimmie Ward for the starting free safety position throughout training camp. Reid was named the starting free safety to begin the 2014 season.
Reid started the San Francisco 49ers' season-opener against the Dallas Cowboys and recorded four combined tackles, deflected a pass and intercepted a pass attempt by Tony Romo in the 28–17 victory. On November 9, 2014, he collected a season-high six combined tackles and defended a pass in the 49ers' 27–24 win over the New Orleans Saints. The next week, Reid made three solo tackles, two pass deflections and intercepted a pass attempt by New York Giants' quarterback Eli Manning during a 16–10 victory by the 49ers. On December 14, 2015, he recorded three combined tackles, defended a pass and had a 73-yard return after intercepting Russell Wilson in a 17–7 loss at the Seattle Seahawks. The following game, Reid suffered a concussion in a 38–35 overtime loss to the San Diego Chargers. He decided to sit out the following week as a precaution and stated that an additional factor in his decision was that the 49ers had missed the playoffs after finishing with an 8–8 record. Reid finished the 2014 season with an impressive total of 42 combined tackles (34 solo), seven pass deflections and three interceptions in 15 starts. Head coach Jim Harbaugh was fired by the San Francisco 49ers immediately following the end of the regular season.
On June 9, 2015, it was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle that Reid had contemplated retirement due to concerns over concussions after having suffered three in just the first two seasons of his professional career. The report of Reid's prospective early retirement was distressing news to the 49ers fanbase already concerned with the recent exodus of multiple players, including the surprise retirements of Chris Borland and Anthony Davis. Reid immediately denied that he had ever seriously considered retirement, stating that his comments were taken "out of context" by reporter Eric Branch. He posted on Twitter, "The media always finds a way to twist your words...they just want you to click on their article." and further added, "Just to be clear, I NEVER SAID, I've given some thought to leaving the NFL!"