Should Reed boycott ESPN like he says he might?

As we see the dozen or so times Ed Reed gets his hands on the football each fall, the Ravens safety is a tough guy to track down. But my Baltimore Sun colleague Jamison Hensley was able to do it Wednesday at Reed's youth football camp at Franklin High School, and Hensley gleaned a few interesting tidbits from Reed.

Reed said he is relatively healthy, declared himself "full go" and expressed a desire to retire as a Raven.

He also clarified the recent comments he made to ESPN about how he and other Ravens players wanted Rex Ryan to be named head coach in 2008. This part in particular was of interest to me because I blogged about Reed’s comments, and Reed did a good job of defusing any potential controversy with John Harbaugh.

In June, Reed sat down with ESPN’s Ed Werder and said, “We wanted Rex as the head coach in Baltimore. We did not want him to leave. It hurt when he left. We knew he was a great coach.”

On Wednesday, Reed didn’t back away from his claim that some Ravens wanted Ryan to coach the team when Brian Billick was fired after the 2007 season. But he said that was before Harbaugh became a candidate for the job.

He also said that ESPN cut out the part on his interview where he praised Harbaugh, who has taken the Ravens to three straight postseasons, making the TV interview look like Reed was longing for a reunion Rex Ryan, who now coaches the Jets.

“It made us look like we didn’t have a good coach and I don’t like my coach and I’d rather be playing with New York,” Reed told Hensley. “Now, you’re causing situations in our family to make it look like we’re separated when it’s not the case. Show the whole interview. Show me at least saying I have a great coach in Baltimore. Don’t make it seem like I wanted Rex as a coach.”

He added that he knows Harbaugh didn’t read into the comments.

“I know he’s better than that.”

Reed said one more interesting thing at the end of one of his answers, suggesting that he may never do an interview with the World Wide Leader again because they created a controversy with a calculated edit. “ESPN is all about drama,” the All-Pro safety said. “It will be hard for me to do another interview with them after that.”

We’ll see if he holds true to that.

Do you believe that part of Reed’s interview was lost on the cutting room floor? And if so, should he pull a media embargo on ESPN? I think it would be justified if what Reed told Hensley is indeed true.

Click here to order Ed Reed’s proCane Rookie Card.


(baltimoresun.com)