ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Malik Reed was on the front side of the COVID-19 outbreak at Broncos’ headquarters.
This was before the virus became a crisis, before it swept through the locker rooms and upstairs offices to infect 16 players, coach Bill Kollar and general manager George Paton in a five-day span this week.
“I’m definitely doing a lot better,’’ Reed said in a sitdown Zoom interview with 9NEWS this week. “It took me a while to get over it but once I did I was feeling a lot better. I’m doing good, man.”
Reed, a slightly undersized, but highly overachieving outside linebacker, was leading the Broncos with 5.0 sacks through 10 games before the virus sidelined him from the back-to-back home games against the Lions and Bengals last month. Upon his return, defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones moved ahead for the team sack lead with 5.5. Reed gave it all he could upon his return last week at Las Vegas, although coming back from omicron is not all that easy, no matter what the experts say about it not being as severe as previous COVID strains.
“I would say going into the game it took a series before I was able to get my wind,’’ Reed said. “I was running and stuff before the game, actually it was before the Bengals game, I thought I was going to be back for that. So I was running a little bit. But being able to go out and play a game against the Raiders, it took that first series to get that game wind up and for the rest of the game I felt a lot better as far as being able to go longer in a series and have that stamina.”
To meet Reed is to meet a friendly, smiling, soft-spoken, easy-going young man from Dotham, Alabama and the University of Nevada. To meet Reed between the lines on a football field is to meet someone else entirely. No player exhibits more unbridled joy after a positive play – a sack, fumble recovery or interception – than Reed. And it doesn’t have to be himself who makes the positive play.
Where did he get that switch that makes him so peaceful off the field and so maniacal on it?
“It’s something people have been asking since college and really high school,’’ Reed said with a smile. “I just tell them once I hit the field I’m like a different person. Like you said, off the field I try to be a nice person, even-keel and at times soft-spoken. I like to have a good time and joke around but easy-going, I would say.
“But once I get between those lines that mentality switches. I don’t know, maybe it’s where I came from. Dothan, Alabama, especially football it’s cutthroat down there. You really have to get it. I feel like that intensity, that aggression, it became part of who I am. I just love to carry that into each and every game. I enjoy playing the game and I have a love and a passion for it. The fans get a chance to see that when the lights come on.”
For the game Sunday against the Chargers, Reed was the last pass rusher standing on the Broncos’ two-deep depth chart. Bradley Chubb, Stephen Weatherly and Jonathan Cooper all tested positive for the virus late in the week and didn’t make the trip to Los Angeles. Reed will take care of one outside linebacker spot. He’ll have to mix in with the inexperienced likes of Aaron Patrick, Andre Mintze and Pita Taumoepena at the other.
All these inexperienced pass rushers for a game in which Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is one of the league’s more mobile quarterbacks.
“You have to really be disciplined,’’ Reed said about rushing Herbert. “Disciplined in your rush game. Making sure you have eyes on him. Like you said once he feels pressure and not seeing much down the field he’ll take off. We know that from playing him, this year, last year. We have to be really disciplined in our rush but still be us and get after him. We have to get back there to him and make him uncomfortable. He’s a great player.”
Reed didn’t want to comment on the reality head coach Vic Fangio is fighting to keep his job and could use wins in the Broncos’ final two games. Reed will do his part in competing for those wins, but as for the coach’s future, “I’ll let the front office handle those things.’’
The Broncos with a 7-8 record are all but eliminated from playoff competition with two games remaining, but the key term to the coaches and players is “all but.”
“I feel like every chance we take the field we go out to win a game,’’ Reed said. “That’s us as competitors and doing it at the highest level you can do it at. That’s our goal every time we step out on the field. I feel like that’s the mindset. This is the next one and we need to win.’’
Any final piece of advice Reed can give Broncos Country as the omicron strain of the COVID virus sweeps team headquarters in particular and the nation in general?
“I say continue to follow the guidelines like the CDC and make sure you wear your mask and stay socially distanced because COVID is still out there,'' Reed said. "The pandemic is still going on. And even though it’s less of a virus, or the effects of the virus are less, it’s still important to make sure that you’re not only taking care of yourself but you’re taking care of the people around you as well. Because you don’t want anybody to get it who has a preexisting condition or whatever and they come down with it harder than what you had so it’s about taking care of yourself and taking care of the people around you.”
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