San Francisco 49ers: Power ranking the top 30 players of 2018
By Aaron Tan
. . Cornerback D.J. Reed. 24. team. 42.
I had high expectations for rookie slot cornerback D.J. Reed coming into the season. The ex-Kansas State Wildcat had clearly played with a chip on his shoulder in college and was very aggressive in coverage, and he showed that in his rookie year.
Reed was a very solid slot cornerback for the team in his rookie season. He did get beat by opposing receivers on a couple of occasions, but like Tarvarius Moore, showed well for the majority of his defensive snaps.
On special teams, Reed proved to be an aggressive kick returner, but had issues with ball security. He lost a fumble on a kick return against the Chargers, but was fortunate enough that the Charger player who recovered the ball was out of bounds at the time of possession. However, he was not so lucky at Green Bay, where he coughed up the ball on a kick return the Packers recovered.
Reed actually has a chance to become a very good kick returner in this league — you can tell that he runs with pure aggression once the ball touches his hands.
He just needs to work on holding onto the ball.