KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Going to the Draft? Saints safety Justin Reid

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

Drew Franklin and Billy continue their look at offseason NFL news leading up to the Draft!  How do you feel about the probable #1 overall pick possibly not being in Pittsburgh?  Kirk Cousins joins the Raiders and could be a mentor to Fernando Mendoza, if he goes #1.   How high in the draft will ND running back Jeremiyah Love go?  Drew plans on watching every minute and every round of the NFL Draft! Saints safety Justin Reid talks about coming back to New Orleans to play for his hometown Saints.  Justin recalls the culture, standards, and expectations of playing for the Chiefs.   Why was winning his 2nd Super Bowl a 'better' experience for Justin as a player?  Justin discusses his love for chess and hiring a coach to get better at the game! Coming up next week, Bengals OT Orlando Brown!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart podcast. Welcome in to a new episode of NFL Cover Zero, offseason edition, although there's never really an offseason in the NFL. Today, Drew Franklin here with Billy Rutledge, bringing you another episode with more from that trip to San Francisco. Got a little bit left from that, Billy. We're not done. A few more weeks of it. And I've snuck in my Super Bowl t-shirt that I've got on today. my hat, King's hat

from the Super Bowl party. So I'm still very much living in that moment, Drew, but excited to share another interview with everybody too. Yeah, good to talk with you again today. Last week we had Eric Kendricks from the 49ers. It became a big star for them as they battled injuries. Today we have our interview with Justin Reed, played for the Saints.

Talked a lot about the emergence of Tyler Shuck. Saints having a decent year, but I think what their expectations were going in the year. He was also a chief. Got to hear a little about if he thinks he might get invited to an important wedding this summer. But he was a fun conversation. Before that, though, Billy, it is kind of busy time in the NFL, even though there's not sports being played.

We're counting down to the draft. There was a moment where we thought we'd be going to the draft. I'm part of the problem with me not be able to go with a baby coming, and you and Matt aren't able to make it now. Does it bum you out that you won't be making the trip to Pittsburgh? It does. One of the coolest experiences I had was Nashville for the draft. That was just a sea of people. A fun multi-day event, and they've taken it to different cities since, right?

So it's really become an event. So it was looking forward to Pittsburgh and what the pickle stuff that you got into last time in Pittsburgh. So, you know, there's a lot of cool stuff that I was looking forward to. I have a wedding shower that weekend. So it doesn't really work for me either, Drew. All this family stuff we're going on. Yeah, you're expecting much more important things. So we're rooting for you and wishing you nothing but the best coming up here.

Well, our wedding's a big deal too. I'm glad you all are having that. That'll be a fun time. But we won't be in Pittsburgh, but there's still a lot to talk about, including another person that's not going to Pittsburgh. Who's that? What's up with your boy, Fernando Mendoza is not going to go.

I mean, locked in is the number one pick. It looks like he's going to have his own private family party elsewhere, probably back in Miami. But, you know, it's a big deal when you're in that first round, especially pick one to go up on stage and shake the commissious hand, get the little side hug with Goodell. And it's looking like he might sit it out as well. Yeah, I'm a little disappointed, honestly.

I'd like the number one overall pick to be there and shake the hand of Godell and do the pictures and everything. That's just not his style, though, I guess, Drew. I mean, he's going to be a little bit more. under the radar less pop and circumstance. You know, it doesn't always work. But at the same time, he's trying to do his own thing. I did like the COVID draft, though.

Do you remember the COVID draft? Of course. So much to take away from the COVID draft. Where it was like, you know, you had C.D. Lambs stealing his phone back from his girlfriend. I mean, you had the moment the Titans draft picks. Mom was shoving the girlfriend off of him to get out of the camera shot. Going into the home kind of gives you even more storylines a lot of times. So maybe we get something there for Mendoza.

Was that the year, was Joe Burrow COVID year with his parents' curtains? They were getting roasted online. You got to see everybody's houses. You know, all of us went through that. You get on Zoom and coworkers. And like, oh, that's where you live. But it's weird to see it for the NFL stars that were used to seen in the green room and on the stage. Some people want to get a little bit more camera attention than maybe they deserve.

But that is maybe a wrinkle we'll get with Mendoza here. But, man, is he going one overall? Has that kind of been consensus from a lot of people? It seems to be the case. You know, he's got, if he goes to the Raiders, got some competition now. Kurt Cousins, the best agent in sports just keeps getting Kirk Cousins paid. But it looks like that's going to be the plan to have a veteran rookie situation with those two. Have similar personalities, kind of seems like.

Yeah, well, throw out the window, like, if he deserves that money, I think this is good for Mendoza if he goes one overall. Like, just this is the expectation of these rookie quarterbacks to come in and be the starter and take a team to the playoffs is unrealistic a lot of times. You see a lot of the greats that had a year behind another, right? So, I mean, I think of Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers' too that weren't thrusted into that limelight immediately. So it doesn't always work, right?

So, but this sets him up for success. And hopefully Kirk can, you know, teach him a couple tricks to how to stay healthy in the league because that's maybe the most important thing. Yep. My Titans at four, they're considering Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame. Don't do it. I know.

I mean, I love Jeremiah Love. my wife's Notre Dame fan, watch him a lot, made a lot of money betting on him on some touchdown scoring throughout his Notre Dame career, but a running back at top five. I saw like the guaranteed money he would be like paid more than Sequin. If I'd be the highest paid running back, having never taken a snap. I mean, as much as I'd love to have that guy on our team at top five running back, I don't know about that one. Now, I didn't realize he'd be paid more than Sequin.

That is, that is jarred. There was kind of like a guarantee. It wasn't the overall contract, but like his guaranteed money would be a lot more than a lot of a lot of the names we know well. I just, I think you have a pick that high, you've got to go past rush or alignment. And as a team like the Titans who are just trying to build back, it seems like pass rusher would be, you know, jump off the page need for Tennessee here. But, you know, GM's overthinking all the time, right?

And so we very well could see a running back taken by the Titans. Are you someone that sits and watches the draft? Last year, I'll admit, I watched maybe every minute, including when I went to mow my yard. I had YouTube TV playing. I just listened to it within my pocket instead of music. Even like rounds two through seven. Normally I'll admit in years past, normally I just lock into the two prime time nights, but it was like Saturday afternoon at four and I'm like people I don't even know are getting taken off the board. Part of it, Shador had dropped and a couple Kentucky guys I was watching. So I had a little reason behind it. But I was locked in last year and I love watching it.

Certainly the first and second rounds. No, I am definitely locked in for the first round. I watch the entire thing 30 minutes beforehand and even maybe some analysis afterwards. After that, I'm okay with seeing like where guys went online. Like I don't have to be completely locked in. But like, you said, like Shadur falling last year was a huge storyline. You know, the NFL network or whoever's doing draft coverage, they do get into some good stories during that time too. So it's good, you know, good human nature parts in those other days. But the first day, there's nothing like that first day and the energy of the crowd there for sure. Oh, of course. I love it. I get well. some guys are starting to have their own parties

like Shadour that year. I mean, he had all kinds of marketing branded things everywhere all over the house. Anyone want to be with your family, but I love watching them all in the green room. Max Harrison from Kentucky became a star with his role back there just bouncing around and congratulating all the guys picked before him.

It's just, it's part of it. And I hope we don't get too far away where they're all at home. Well, and some want to avoid being in that green room for too long. Of course. Right? I mean, Will Levis was our guy from Kentucky. And, you know, his girlfriend became famous by the of the night how much they showed them in the green room. That was so hard to watch.

Oh, it was brutal because his family's all around him, right? And, you know, that happens, you know, quite more often than we think. Was it, Gino Smith didn't get picked to the second round back in the day? And he had to go through all that. So, you know, maybe Mendoza is trying to avoid that, but he's going one, Drew. So that's not even an issue there. So maybe that's part of the thing. It is bad.

It's like one person in their vacuuming around him. I think Lamar was one of those fell really far. Ravens traded back up to 32 to pick him. So yeah, he got saved by the bell. You see him, they're like taking stuff down and putting the food away. I'm like, can you all just leave it staged until this one person gets picked? It gets awkward. But it's always fun to watch the draft.

I hate that we're not able to go. Maybe next year, but it is a fun time of the year for NFL fans. And our guest on the show today, he was third round pick, 2018 out of Stanford, Justin Reed, a two-time Super Bowl champion. As you'll learn in this interview was with the Saints. Last year, we had a great time talking to him. And it is up next in our series of our NFL cover zero interviews from the Super Bowl. All right, here with Justin Reed of the New Orleans Saints,

played for the Texans, played for the Chiefs, swagged out in a Louis Vuitton jacket with a turtleneck. You know, I had my grandmother once told me, it takes a special man to wear a turtleneck. I never really felt like I was that guy, but you, I think, are able to do it. You just have, you know, just a pinch of fearlessness. You know what I mean?

Just a pinch of fearlessness. You just got to go for it. You need a glass of wine, maybe a pipe. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, one of those old school ones. An old school pipe. I think it would work. You know, he's commercial.

So you've been going around doing these interviews. The Saints had some life at the end of the year last year. Found some things down the stretch. You feel like you're on an upward swing going into next season? Yeah, absolutely. There's so much momentum going into the next season. And when I first signed with the Saints, there's a couple of reasons that I did it. One was it's a full circle moment for me to come back and play for the team that I grew up watching.

But you knew that there's going to be some growing pains. Are you from New Orleans? I'm from Baton Rouge. Okay, got you. Yeah. But you knew there's going to be some growing pains coming back and signing with the team. And I honestly expected it to take longer than it did for things to start to turn around. Just because you know it takes a while for things to develop and chemistry to build.

A new coach will be built, new coaching staff, a bunch of new. young players. But then Tyler just comes in and grabs the reins. And then this kid, it's just a stud. So what is it about him? You know, we're Kentucky fans. Have you hung out with him? No, he went to Louisville.

I booed him multiple times since they are a rival. Yeah. But if you ever sit in a room with him, he's just like a really charismatic kid, man. There's something about him to where he's got just enough seasoning to him to where it's like he's funny, witty. Waity. Is he invited the cookout? Yeah, he's absolutely, 100% invited to the cook.

Is he? So he has some season. Stant, stant, stamped, certified. Stamped, okay. Yeah, but he's a cool dude. And, you know, he's fearless when he throws the ball. He makes the run and plays when he needs to. And the offense just had a little bit more energy and juice behind it

whenever he was on the field. So that created some momentum. And at the season, winning, like, what, five of the last six, something like that. And we just got to ride that momentum going into this coming year. Still got a waste to go with the Saints to get there. with the Chiefs, that was a winning culture, a championship culture. What's that experience like being here, being a part of this? I know you're here talking to us now, but you've lived this already.

Yeah, I mean, it was, I mean, what an incredible three years. I mean, three in a row is absolute insanity. But it was fun playing for that organization just because of the consistency. The culture was set, the expectations, excuse me, the expectations were high. The standards were even higher. And it's just about going and executing. It was a selfless team. And the thing that made the chief special is nobody cared who got the credit.

Like we didn't care who got stats. Nobody cared who had the most touchdowns. It was about, hey, did we win or did we lose? And at the end of the day, if we're all buying into what it takes to win, that's when you have a good team. And that's what the two teams that are playing right now both equally have. And you know, you're going to need that to show up. Are you going to get invited to the wedding, Travis and Taylor?

I hope so. I mean, that would be a fun wedding. I mean, you get that invite. story you tell forever. I mean, I feel like... I did go to Simone Biles' wedding. I went to Simone Biles and Jonathan Noan's wedding. He was a good friend of mine.

So that would be a fun one to go to me. I mean, you were there when the whole Taylor phenomenon started. Could you feel... I mean, you all already had a ton of attention because of your success and Patrick Mahomes, et cetera. But that was another whole level. I mean, there were... You introduced an entirely different demographic to professional football.

I mean, I thought it was awesome. maybe people got sick of the commercials. I'm on the field. I didn't see any of them. You know what I mean? But just seeing how many people poured into, I have a daughter now, like how many girls were without watching football? You know, regardless of the reason,

they're still watching football getting the low and a little bit. I know a bunch of dads out there is like, I'm watching a football game with my daughter now. She wants to watch Taylor Swift, but, hey, she's interested into the game. That's just the coolest thing. I have my first girl coming in two months. We're counting down. You got any tips for a future girl dad here?

I mean, the moment's approaching. Yeah, you know what? I thought that I didn't need a sleep trainer, and I paid the price for that. My daughter didn't sleep through the night until 10 months. Okay. So, yeah, so have a plan for that. We used to just take shifts, and I'm an early bird, so I take the early morning shift, and my partner would take the late night shift.

But just have a plan for that, and then, man, honestly, just enjoy it, bro, because it's cliche, but it just goes by so quick, man. You don't even recognize how fast they grow up and get big, until you look at an old picture or somebody else has a baby and you have them next to each other. And it's like, wow, where the time go? All right. I appreciate that. So winning multiple Super Bowls, I mean, was it as good the second time as it was the first?

Even better the second time. Even better the second time. I feel like everything's better the second time you do it. Like in order of what's the best times to ever do it, second time is the best, first time is the second best. Why is that? Because like the first time you don't know what to expect. And like that newness is also a. exciting that it's a new experience you don't know like what's going to happen next you kind of like

eyes wide open okay like what do i do next what do i go how does this go but then once you experience at the first time and you know what it feels like you're just itching to get back to that feeling because now you're expecting like i know what it feels like whenever that clock hits zero and you're now another champion like the first time it took like a week for it to really hit like you know you celebrate it but it took a week before you're like oh yeah i'm a champion the second one as soon as the clock hit zero you immediately had that rush of feeling you're back on top of the mountain it's incredible it seems like andy reed is one of the few people in sports universally beloved yeah why is that the case what makes him so great he's like your grandfather man he's like your your your old wise

grandfather that you you hate to disappoint like he when he looks at you and and he has a face of like disappointment that hurts like it crushes you like it legit crushes you're like bro like please yell at me or something like please cuss me out something don't be sad at me you like but him being disappointed to you it's just the worst thing ever and and he has very high standards he runs a tight ship um but guys just want to want to play hard for him man like guys know guys know what it takes to win he knows what it takes to win he allows guys to show their personality he doesn't hold you back from that he's like have fun when we're on the field it's time to work but when we're off the field let your personality show and have some fun i learned a fun

In fact, you're the champion, you beat what, Kyler Murray, I think, in the finals, am I right? Yeah, yeah, I'm the back-to-back champion, actually. Oh, but you've gone back-to-back. Back-to-back. Yeah, I was winning Super Bowls and chess competitions, you know what I'm going, back-to-back. But that's a cool thing the NFL do. I think we're in Blitzchchamps four, so it was the fourth year of them doing it. My teammate Drew Tranquil actually introduced it to me.

He won Blitz Chimps, too, and we used to play in the locker room. Like, I had a chess board in my locker, and guys were just coming up. We played games in the locker room, and he invited me to do this competition. And wait a minute, hang on. You all had a chess board in the Chiefs locker room. Yeah, it was a tradition. Every Saturday, every Saturday between when practice ended before we got on the buses, we just round robin on the board chess games.

It's like speed chess? Yeah, we had like three minute games. Wow. I had no idea. And so who was the worst? Who is the worst? Let's see. You can say McCall.

Probably McColl, Hartman. Oh, okay. Yeah, and I know he's going to hate. me saying that he's going to get on Twitter right now and say he wasn't the worst because he beat me one time he beat me one time he's going to grill me on that so how did you get into chess i mean that takes a certain kind of mind to think about the world like that yeah so two parts uh the first part is i had a teammate philip games when i played for the houston texas we used to call grandmaster phil because he'll be in his locker playing the chess app on his phone like just all the time

right so i wanted i wanted to like relate to my teammates so i tried to play him he killed me Oh, my God, he put me in such a blender. You know what I mean? And then after that, I'm competitive, so I wanted to learn. So that was the same time the Queens Gammon came out on Netflix. It's like the same time period. So I was like, okay, they played the Sicilian defense in that movie. So I learned that the Sicilian defense, and that's what I still play today.

And then I hired a Grandmaster to also be a coach for me just to make sure that I mean, you hired a grandmaster to teach you. Yeah, hell yeah. Yeah, James Canty. Shout out to you, GM Canty. Shout out to James Canty. Wow, that is. Now, that is a very unique story. So, like, you say you're not, you're obviously the best in the NFL.

Do you ever, like, walk down, you know, New York City and Manhattan and just play those old guys sitting in the park? You know, on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, there's a guy sitting on the corner. Oh, there is. There's a guy sitting on the corner on the chessboard out. Have you ever challenged him? Yeah, I've walked by him twice. I was on the move, but I'll talk to him on the way.

It's like, hey, I'm going to come back and play you, bro. I'm going to come back and play you. Well, let me ask you about New Orleans playing in that city because I think a lot of people not in New Orleans don't realize just how rabid that fan base can be. And what an important role that team has to that city. No, it's serious. It's serious. It's, it's God in football.

Like, seriously, like, the football team has a visceral impact on, like, the entire life of the city, the entire life of the state, actually. Like, if LSU and the Saints both lose, it's a doom and gloom day in the state of Louisiana. You know what I mean? Like with both teams are winning, people are happier. The sun's shining a little bit brighter. People are more friendly. You know what I mean? Literally the crime rate goes down.

You know what I mean? Literally? Literally. It is a fact. You know what I mean? So somebody should just run for office and go, I'm going to make the Saints in LSU win and everything. You would win some votes.

I guarantee you'll win some votes. Yeah, a lot more people asking for tickets now that you're back home. I know you're excited to see them, but it's a little harder on game day, distribute it out. Yeah. you know, but I'm at a place in my life to where I kind of welcome it. You know what I mean? Like if I was a young player, I still am a young guy.

But if I was a, like, wet behind the years rookie or something, it might have been more of a distraction. But I got a suite for my family. I have about 20, 30 come to all the home games. And I, like, have my immediate family and then I'll rotate external family. So everybody gets an experience. You know, one time I accidentally ended up in the suite for the SEC tournament in New Orleans, the no limit suite at the Superdome.

different experience there, but you know what? It was a good time. Yeah, I mean, New Orleans has so much personality, man. Like the people, the fans, I mean, it's colorful, it's funny. They'll let you know how you feel. They'll let you know how they feel. You like Cajun food? Absolutely.

What's your favorite? Shout out Dora's Metropolitan. Doris Metropon is a Cajun, it's a steakhouse with New Orleans flavor, a twist to it with the seafood and the seasons that they, use. It's one of my favorites to go to. And then of course, this is a technical occasion, but king cake season, you know, that's right around the corner. I've been there. Getting some king cake. I love it. Yeah. Well, I look forward to, you need to take Tyler Shuck there and his seasoning to the steakhouse. Yeah. And thank you very much for your time. Justin Reed.

Absolutely. Appreciate you guys. Appreciate it. All right. That was our interview with Justin Reed. Another fun one. We have one more left coming up for you all. I have to admit the next one, Orlando Brown Jr. from the Bengals might have been my favorite. We talked football, but we talked a lot of not football things, which I like to do, especially just what it's like being Burroughs linemen behind the scenes. Well, you love the fossil talk to that you go with Orlando Brown Jr., which we'll play next week. But, you know, Justin Reed talks about playing chess. And then Orlando Brown Jr., he got into like the piano playing that he's doing. So, I mean, that's cover zero, right, talking about everything but football.

Well, Skyline Chili. Also, he goes from Burrow Mr. Cool to Joe Flack. just shows up in the building in mid-season. So really fun one coming up. I've been looking forward to this one the most. It'll be next week, Orlando Brown Jr. But thanks for listening to this one today with Justin Reed and all the ones before this. We have a fun time doing this. We appreciate all of you listening to Cover Zero.

This is Drew and Billy. Signing off until next week. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart podcast. For more podcasts from IHeart Radio, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast Guaranteed Human