New England Patriots
Reed is in his second season, but he has already started a playoff game in Foxborough.
Houston Texans safety Jaylen Reed stands on the field during an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, in Houston. AP Photo/Ashley Landis
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The Patriots acquired safety Jaylen Reed last week in a trade that sent receiver Kayshon Boutte to the Texans.
On Sunday, the Patriots announced that Reed made the 53-man roster. He’ll add depth to the safety position behind Kevin Byard and Craig Woodson.
Reed’s NFL sample size is small. He has played in just seven regular-season games after being selected in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
However, he has already played a playoff game in Foxborough and is looking to bounce back from a rookie season that was shortened by injuries.
Here are five things to know about the second-year safety.
He started both playoff games for the Texans last year
Reed wasn’t able to make his NFL debut until Week 7 last year after beginning the season on the PUP list with a knee injury.
He had been building in late October and throughout November, but a forearm injury caused him to miss more time as the Texans placed him on injured reserve.
Reed returned for the playoffs and started both games, including a loss to the Patriots in the divisional round.
The Texans allowed the fewest yards (277.2) per game in the league last year and finished second in points allowed per game (17.4) during the regular-season.
The Texans sacked Drake Maye five times in the playoffs, but the Patriots were able to score 28 points in the divisional round — more than any other team put up against Houston that year.
He and Sauce Gardner were teammates in high school
Reed is from Detroit and attended Martin Luther King Jr. High School, a public magnet school in the city that has produced professional athletes across a range of sports.
Its alumni include Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall-of-Famer George Gervin, former Orioles manager Joe Altobelli, who won a World Series title with the club in 1983, and two-time First-Team All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner.
Reed and Gardner briefly overlapped as teammates, though Gardner is a couple years older than Reed.
His upbringing made him hungry
Last month, the Texans’ official website asked Reed why so many good football players come from Detroit.
Gardner, Antonio Gates, Derrick Mason, and Bart Scott are just some of the Detroit natives who have made at least one Pro Bowl appearance.
“We’re dogs, man,” Reed said. “Detroit mentality — it’s not a good city. Not a lot of us come from a lot of good things. So we got a lot of stuff built up.”
“We’re ready. We’re hungry. And I feel like we got the right attitude to attack certain things, especially in the game of football. The guys from Detroit, we last a long time in the NFL.”
He was drafted five spots after Andy Borregales
The Texans picked in the Sixth Round (No. 187 overall) in 2025.
The Patriots were on the clock five spots earlier at No. 182. They took kicker Andy Borregales, who went 27-for-32 on field goal attempts and made all of his tries from 50-plus yards last year.
Borregales got off to a rough start during the preseason opener this summer, but ultimately steadied himself and retained his job.
He was a key piece of a Penn State team that made the CFP semifinals
Reed was a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2024. He recorded 98 tackles, 3 interceptions, and 2.5 sacks.
Penn State went 13-3 that year. They blew out SMU and Boise State in the first round and quarterfinals of the college football playoffs before falling to Notre Dame in the semifinals at the Orange Bowl.
Reed, who was a senior at the time, recorded six tackles in the 27-24 loss to the Fighting Irish.
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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