With the injury to Bradley Chubb, there is a hole to fill at the edge rushing spot opposite of Von Miller. While Denver added Jeremiah Attaochu a few days ago, Malik Reed is likely to receive the largest bump in playing time to try and fill Chubb’s role.
Reed, an undrafted rookie from Nevada, showed flashes in training camp and preseason that earned him the third rotational edge spot, and now an opportunity to step up and start.
He sat down with Benjamin Allbright and Ryan Edwards on Broncos Country Tonight on KOA Radio and talked about the upcoming game against the Chargers and how Von Miller and Bradley Chubb have been helping him learn how to be a pro.
Von Miller was complimentary of Reed in his press conference today when asked about him and believes he is ready to take on the challenge:
“Malik is ready to go. Malik is ready to go, and I often talk about Shaq (Buccaneers OLB Shaquil Barrett) like, ‘Hey, Malik you can be that too. You can have that type of success too.’ Shaq was here. Shaq played behind us just like Malik is doing now. With Malik, I point to Exhibit A with Shaq all the time.”
Ed Donatell also showed his confidence in Reed as well as the others who will need to step up in Chubb’s absence like Justin Hollins:
“Every single guy that we have here has a good attitude about stepping in. He (Reed) did a great job in preseason. His reps will go up some. He’s ready.”
Take a listen to the full interview with Reed above. You never want to start under these circumstances, but hopefully Malik Reed can take advantage of the increased playing time to accelerate his development.