Safety Justin Reid says he was drawn to Chiefs in part because of KC fan base (and BBQ)
Before agreeing to sign with the Chiefs, safety Justin Reid did his due diligence.
Reid wanted to make sure he would be a good fit not only for coach Andy Reid’s team, but for the city of Kansas City.
So Reid spoke with a few former Chiefs players, including Eric Murray and Martinas Rankin, about working and living in KC.
“All of them tell me how great of an experience they had here,” Reid said last week in a call with reporters after signing a three-year contract. “They said that this is a city they would raise their kids in. They said that the culture, the food and the barbecue is amazing — you won’t run short on places to go eat. They said when you drive up on gameday, miles away you’ll start to smell the barbecue. And they talked about how electric the fan base is once you actually do get on the field. So, I’m looking forward to all those things.”
Reid had been to Kansas City before signing. The Texans, who drafted Reid in 2018, played the Chiefs three times.
That included the 2019 Divisional playoff game when Houston blew a 24-0 lead and lost 51-31.
“It kind of felt like the Chiefs were a (division) opponent, we played them so many times,” Reid said. “But what I’ve gotten out of my experience playing against them is that in this fan base, in this culture, on this team, as long as there is time on the clock, you always have a chance to win. You can even take that back to when there was 13 seconds on the clock (against Buffalo in January’s playoff game), and I was watching, score and take that game to overtime and all of that.
“As long as there’s time on the clock, the energy, the amount of talent that’s on this team, is unbelievable. In 2019 we experienced it first-hand when the Texans were up 24 points and then by halftime we were down. As long as there is time on the clock, as soon as momentum shifts, the crowd gets into it and really pumps the players up. And once the ball gets going, it’s a very hard train to stop. And that’s really good for the Chiefs organization and for Chiefs Kingdom in general.”
Each of the three Texans’ games against the Chiefs were in Kansas City, and Reid said Arrowhead Stadium’s reputation as the loudest stadium in the world was well-deserved.
Now he’s ditching Houston’s blue for Chiefs red, and he is eager to have the KC fans revving up him and his new teammates.
”It’s a completely electric atmosphere. (I) could literally feel the hairs on my arms stand up every time I stepped out there,” Reid said. “A lot of times it didn’t end the way I wanted to, playing for Houston. But it was an electric atmosphere. I have so much fun playing in stadiums like that. There’s really only a couple that really give you the feeling that Arrowhead Stadium can give you.
“I’m really excited to actually be on the field now while the crowd is going crazy. A lot of times I was just on the sideline whenever they were being loud for the Kansas City Chiefs defense. But now to be a part of that, I’m so excited to feed into the culture here, be a part of the fan base, help get those guys going and then have them give us a little energy too because it really does make a tangible difference when the crowd is into the game, and they get loud. And it actually energizes and boosts us as players on the field. It makes a tremendous difference. I can’t wait to strap up and step out in front of them and play for them.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 8:49 AM.
