The Kansas City Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football in Week 14.

Ahead of their second matchup of the season, Bleacher Report analyst Alex Ballentine suggested that LAC pursue starting safety and veteran team leader Justin Reid in 2025 NFL free agency. And this is unfortunately a very real and plausible outcome if the Chargers decide to shop for a more experienced body on the back end.

“[LAC defensive coordinator] Jesse Minter’s arrival has been a positive for a lot of the Chargers’ defensive personnel,” Ballentine began. Reasoning: “The unit is playing much better than it did last year, and there are several individual players who have been beneficiaries of the change. [Safety] Alohi Gilman isn’t one of them. His PFF grade has ranked 80th out of the 89 players they’ve graded.”

“Justin Reid isn’t playing at an elite level,” the NFL writer acknowledged, “but he’s a steady veteran who the Chargers could use. Minter’s defense has been at its best with three safeties on the field, so Derwin James can be free to make plays. Reid would allow them to do that.”

Reid has done nothing but help the Chiefs win Super Bowls since arriving in Kansas City. Having said that, his personal contributions have fluctuated depending on the specific areas of his game.

It’s hard to measure Reid’s value as a leader, but he certainly provides an impact in this regard. The locker room would miss the soon-to-be 28-year-old, and him joining an up-and-coming division rival would be less than ideal.

As a safety and defensive playmaker, however, Reid has struggled at times. Especially in 2024.

For starters, Reid has been getting torched in pass coverage this season. According to Pro Football Focus, no Chiefs defender has allowed more receiving yards than Reid this year with nearly 500 yards against.

The safety has also allowed a team-leading 131.7 passer rating against, not to mention 82.6% of his targets have been caught.

This is a sharp decline from Reid’s 2023 numbers in pass coverage, which included less yardage allowed in more appearances (403 in 16 games) and a passer rating against of 99.8. He also only allowed 64.4% of his targets to be caught last season.

On the flip side, Reid has been a strong asset as a run defender and a reliable open-field tackler.

Reid’s 5.5% missed tackle rate is one of the lowest among Chiefs defenders with a minimum of 300 defensive snaps. Only defensive linemen Mike Danna and Chris Jones, cornerback Nazeeh Johnson and linebacker Leo Chenal rank lower.

Similarly, Reid ranks third on the team in key defensive stops that “constitute a failure for the offense.” He has been credited with 24 stops this year. Last season, Reid finished with 32 stops, which ranked second for the entire team at the time.

Nine of those “stops” have come in run defense in 2024, and Reid’s average depth of tackle is only 5.3 yards. For reference, that average ranks 10th in the NFL for all safeties (minimum 50% of snaps), and partner Bryan Cook’s average depth of tackle in run defense is 9.7 yards.