Reed did his part in helping the Jets defense rebound from the 2021 season when it was near the bottom of the league in key statistical categories. In the 2022 season, the Jets were No. 1 in the NFL in an important metric — holding offenses in their 17 games to TDs on 15.1% of their drives.
“He’s brought mentality, he’s brought talent,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said of Reed. “He’s brought us a corner that we have a ton of trust in to cover anybody.”
Reed said: “Coach U all year was just very consistent with his play-calling. He made it easy for us to go out there and dominate. Getting a bunch of new guys into a system is very hard because you have to figure out how guys play, how guys see things, how guys interpret things because one small error could be a big deal on the field. So once we got through the first couple of weeks, we started gaining trust within the secondary especially. And we started playing very well.”
With so much attention directed Gardner’s way, it’s often easy to forget that Reed also embraced the task of facing some of the top receivers in the NFL, a group that included Tyreek Hill (Miami), Stefon Diggs (Buffalo), Justin Jefferson (Minnesota) and others.
Gardner, the No. 4 overall draft pick in 2022 who was selected to the Pro Bowl and is among the candidates for the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, said that he would have had an “average rookie season” without Reed on the other side of the field and in the meeting room.
“I know it wouldn’t have been as good as it is now,” Gardner said. “You know, I probably would have just been the average rookie. Something like that. But D.J. helped me take my game to the next level. You know, he made it to the point where I don’t even feel like a rookie. He made me feel comfortable, being able to be on that field or just feel like I can go against any and everybody. That’s why people would always say ‘it’s like, he’s not a rookie. He’s playing like he’s been in his league.’ But that’s,…
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