Washington Redskins rookie tight end Jordan Reed has looked stellar this season while learning the system in DC, meanwhile veteran Fred Davis has struggled in his return to it. Reed has caught 26 passes for 298 yards and two touchdowns thus far this year. Davis on the other hand has spent two games on the inactive list this season (once for injury) and has three catches (none since week 2) on the season for 35 yards.
Reed is experiencing success earlier than any Redskins tight end in recent memory. This past Sunday against the Chicago Bears he registered his first 100 yard game in just his sixth game as a professional. Former Redskins tight end Chris Cooley played in 53 games before he registered his first 100 yard game, it took Fred Davis 44 games to get his first, and only 100 yard game.
Other notable tight ends around the league didn’t see that type of success either as it took Tony Gonzalez 51 games, Antonio Gates 13 games, Jimmy Graham 18 games and Rob Gronkowski needed 16 games.
Only fellow Florida Gator alum Aaron Hernandez bettered Reed’s number, tallying his first 100 yard game in just his second NFL outing.
“I’ve never had this many catches in a game. To be honest this is my first time,” Reed said after the game. “After the first couple games, I realized that it wasn’t that hard out there, and I could do it. It gives me confidence because I work hard every day at practice and stay after with my coach and work on things. Just to see that it’s paying off gives me great confidence that hard work pays off.”
As Jordan Reed has emerged this year, Fred Davis has slumped. The way the Redskins look at it Reed is a better pass catcher and Logan Paulsen is a better blocker. Davis was thought to be a rising star just two years ago before he was suspended the last four games of the season due to a violation of the leagues drug policy. Davis had 59 catches for 796 yards and three touchdowns in 12 games in 2011.
Fred returned last year poised to pick back up where he left off a season before but suffered an early season Achilles injury, and was lost for the year. Fred had 24 catches for 325 yards in seven games in 2012. Davis signed a one-year contract in the offseason, after being courted by a few other teams, in hopes of having a bounce-back year this season and getting himself a multi-year deal next offseason.
Just this week reports from several sources stated the Redskins were openly shopping Fred Davis. It’s unknown how much interest or which teams would be interested in him but the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets both expressed interest in the offseason and are both in position to get a deal done now.
Davis says it wasn’t him who asked for a trade. “At the end of the day, I look at it as I’m a Redskin right now until I hear differently,” Davis said during his regular appearance with LaVar Arrington and Chad Dukes on 106.7 The Fan. “I want to help my team any way I can until then…If I get traded, something happens, that’s what happens. But other than that, right now I’ve just got to do the job, still got to be a pro. At the end of the day, I don’t want to leave a bad taste in my mouth with any of the coaches or anything like that.”
He was asked if would prefer to be released and he said: “I don’t really prefer that. I just want to be able to play. That’s what I prefer. I prefer to be playing.”
The NFL’s trading deadline is Oct. 29.
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