Free agency 5Qs: DJ Reader’s snap-to-snap consistency is incredible

Bengals fans and analyst Joe Goodberry offered us in-depth insight into Detroit Lions free agent signing DJ Reader.

Without a doubt, the most exciting free agent signing the Detroit Lions made this offseason is former Bengals nose tackle DJ Reader. With the addition, the Lions add a veteran with nearly a decade of success to bolster their struggling defensive line. Reader should continue to help Detroit’s dominant run defense while also providing some much-needed help in the pass rush game.

But don’t take it from me. I had a quick conversation with Joe Goodberry, a die-hard Bengals fan and owner of Bengals on the Brain.

Goodberry gave us an excellent recap of Reader’s four years in Cincinnati, including the defensive tackle’s impact as a leader, force multiplier, and one of the most underappreciated players in the league.

Note: Below is a transcript from voice messages left by Joe Goodberry. It has been lightly edited only for clarification. No context was removed.

Why do you think the Bengals let Reader go, especially since they signed Sheldon Rankins to a bigger contract?

“I think the Bengals let Reader go for two reasons. One is the current injury, the quad being the second time. Also, 30 years old. I think they looked at the two of those and said, ‘Hey, over his four years, we have loved DJ Reader. He’s been a great player for us. He’s been a key player for us, but he’s played about 45 percent of the available defensive snaps.’

“No. 1 because he’s a nose tackle, right? Those guys are going to be out there for every, single snap. But No. 2, because he’s had two major injuries now in those four years. It’s hard to pay a guy with a lot of guaranteed money if you can’t guarantee the amount of snaps and playing time you’re going to have. So I think that was the big thing.

“I think they wanted to get better as a pass rushing team, too. So I think they saw the opportunity to get Sheldon Rankins and offer him the pass rushing type of money rather than DJ Reader (and) nose tackle, run stopping kind of money. He’s good at what he does, I just think they were concerned with the injury.”

What is a part of Reader’s game that goes overlooked/underappreciated?

“I think DJ Reader’s game as a whole is overlooked. I think he is a dominant player at times. I think the snap-to-snap consistency is incredible. I think his strength and functional athleticism for a nose tackle makes him special. Yeah, he’s not Dexter Lawrence, he’s not Vita Vea as a pass rusher, but he is a good enough pass rusher, he can push the pocket, he will disrupt, he will be a pain in the ass, he will make the guys around him better.

“I think part of what may get overlooked, is his leadership and the way he rallied guys and made sure they were tough in the games they needed to be tough and made sure they pulled themselves together in the times seasons when they needed to pull themselves back together again. He was at the forefront of both of those situations.”

Reader talked about mentoring young players in Detroit. Is there an example of him doing this in Cincy?

“There’s a lot of examples of mentoring young players. I think that is a role he’s never shied away from. I talked about his leadership and being voted as a captain, but there were a lot of young guys when he got here. Guys like Trey Hendrickson and Carl Lawson the first year, and Sam Hubbard was still a young man at that point. Now Hubbard is a captain, Trey Hendrickson is one of the best defensive ends in the league, especially as a pass rusher. BJ Hill getting traded from the Giants to the Bengals has turned into a good second-contract player for them. Larry Ogunjobi needed to rebound his career and did so with the Bengals while DJ Reader as the defensive tackle next to him. Now, Ogunjobi got a strong second contract.

“So, yeah, I think there’s a lot of—not just guys that have succeeded around him and gotten better around him, gotten good deals around him. I think there are times like when Trey Hendrickson—they call him Blackout Trey because he loses his mind a little bit and doesn’t really control his emotions and what he’s doing—and it’s usually Reader (as) the guy reeling him in and pulling him back together. He or Sam Hubbard, the two defensive captains this past year. That makes a lot of sense to me that he would view himself as a mentor. because guys look up to him. (Because of) the way he speaks, it’s easy to do that, easy to buy into what he’s saying.”

How confident/concerned are you that Reader can return to form after a second torn quad?

“He’s confident. I’ll tell you that. He’s like, ‘I’ve done it once, I can do it again, and when I did it the first time, we went to the Super Bowl in 2021.’ So he’s got that as a motivator for him to get back into shape and to get back and ready to go when the season starts, and if not, be ready halfway through the year to get back to his prime, get back to where you’re at your best, which I think is the goal.

“But am I concerned? Of course, and I think the Bengals are, and I think the Lions are, to be honest with you. The Lions didn’t give him a lot of guaranteed money. The Bengals, obviously, didn’t give him that much, but the Lions didn’t either.”

What’s your favorite DJ Reader story on or off the field?

“The 2021 playoffs going against the Titans in the divisional round. It’s a little bit of the mix of the fan side of things that filters into the locker room at times.

“The Titans were known—they had the No. 1 seed in the AFC—they’re known for being physical. They had Derrick Henry, they’re going to run it down your throats, they’re going to play defense, and they’re this physical team. And the Bengals, they’re chucking the ball downfield to Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, and—I don’t know how this happened, because we, as Bengals fans, never bought this at all—people thought this was some finesse offense. And we (Bengals fans) were offended. We were talking to Titans fans that week on Twitter spaces and things like that, and they were like, ‘Yeah, well you guys got this finesse offense. It’s not going to work against the Titans.’ And we were like, “What? What are you talking about? Have you seen Joe Mixon run? Have you seen Ja’Marr Chase break tackles and spin off of guys and stiff arm people and go 70 yards? Have you seen the defense? Have you seen DJ Reader? Have you seen the run stoppers up the middle and Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt and Vonn Bell?’ We were naming all these players and the defense was stingy, man. The Titans fans didn’t want to buy it or hear it at all.

“Then someone asked DJ Reader at the podium after the game, after the game that the Bengals physically dominated and beat the No. 1 seed that year—which they weren’t expected to … They beat up on the Titans despite being sacked nine times themselves. Defensively, the Bengals just shut down the Titans run game completely. Had a key fourth-and-1 stop when Derrick Henry got stuffed in the backfield.

“But they asked Reader about it, and said, ‘Did that bother you that some people were considering you guys finesse or questioning your toughness?’ and he was like, ‘Hell yeah. Wouldn’t that bother you? If someone questioned you and questioned if you could do your job?’

“It just embodied how we all felt and we were all like, ‘Yeah! Hell yeah, DJ Reader.’ I think that carried them for a while, for a couple more weeks until they got to the Super Bowl, for sure.”