Coach Gary Kubiak made his return to active duty with the Houston Texansthis week. One of his first tasks was explaining why the team parted with All-Pro safety Ed Reed.
Houston released Reed on Tuesday, ending the veteran's disappointing (and expensive) seven-game tenure with the team. The move came one day after Reed -- who recently had been demoted from his starting role -- said Houston was "outplayed and outcoached" in a 27-24 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
"It all gets back to football," Kubiak said Wednesday, via the Texans' official website. "Obviously, I know there was lot said and this and that. I talked to Ed yesterday. We're playing young guys and we really like the way D.J. (Swearinger) is playing and Shiloh (Keo) is playing. His role became diminished, especially the last few weeks."
Reed played just 12 snaps against the Cardinals. Kubiak said that workload would have been the norm for Reed, had he been kept around.
"In all fairness to him, like I told him, in respect to his career and what he's done, and for us to be in a situation where we're playing him eight to 10 plays and that was going to continue with the way we're doing it right now," Kubiak said. "I thought it was fair to him to give him an opportunity to play somewhere else, whatever he wanted to do.
"That's how we came to the conclusion. He and I talked about it yesterday and we'll continue with these young guys. They've been doing a good job."
The New York Jets announced Thursday they have added Reed to the roster, a day after he cleared waivers.
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