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Veteran safety Justin Reid, the younger brother of former San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid, is gearing up for his first season with the New Orleans Saints after signing a three-year, $31.5 million deal. Before arriving in New Orleans, he spent three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he was part of two Super Bowl championship teams, including Super Bowl LVIII, when the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in overtime.
Reid is currently participating in the American Century Championship at Lake Tahoe and sat down with Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. During the interview, the topic of 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy came up. Reid, who faced Purdy in that Super Bowl matchup, offered high praise for the young signal-caller.
While Purdy continues to face criticism from some who believe he’s merely a product of Kyle Shanahan’s system and the talent around him, Reid sees things differently, especially after preparing for him on football’s biggest stage. The veteran safety believes Purdy earned the massive five-year, $265 million contract extension the 49ers gave him this offseason.
“It’s about execution of the system,” Reid explained. “You look at the four quarterbacks before Brock. You had Jimmy Garoppolo, you had another first-round pick … Trey Lance, and they’re all running the same system, but the level of execution wasn’t there that Brock was able to do. So there’s something to that.
“What everyone wants in the league is you want a quarterback that can execute whatever the game plan is, and always give your team a chance to win. And like it or not, Brock Purdy does that consistently, despite whatever critics have to say about him.”
Reid will get another shot at Purdy early in the 2025 season when the 49ers travel to New Orleans to face the Saints in Week 2. The safety is already anticipating the challenge of facing the quarterback once again.
“He is a very solid quarterback that does a really good job managing the game and getting the ball to his playmakers,” Reid added. “So, yeah, a guy like that deserves to be paid.”
Brandon Staley, whose name is probably familiar to 49ers fans, as he served as the team’s assistant head coach in 2024, is Reid’s new defensive coordinator in New Orleans. However, it was Steve Spagnuolo, the highly respected defensive coordinator in Kansas City, who helped prepare Reid for Super Bowl LVIII. According to Reid, Spagnuolo had great respect for Purdy going into the big game.
“Coach Spagnuolo has an incredible amount of respect for him in the offense that they run, and that was the emphasis,” Reid shared. “It’s like, we’re not going to take this lightly.”
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