Seven-time Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed is upbeat about his health after a surgery-free offseason, but he'd still like the Baltimore Ravens to "be smart" with his reps during training camp.
"I'm feeling fine," Reed told *The Baltimore Sun* on Wednesday during his football camp at a local high school. "I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't do the things that training camp requires because of longevity of my career and my life. After not going through training camp with the physical abuse of last year and playing the way I played, I would hope Coach (John Harbaugh) would be smart about how they handle me.
"I don't think I have much to prove during training camp, but it is the time to get in shape."
Reed missed the first six games of the 2010 season after undergoing offseason hip surgery, yet he still led the NFL with eight interceptions.
"I'm still rehabbing it," Reed said of the injury. "It's going to be a life-long thing you deal with. I'm not going to live in the past and the things I went through last year. I feel good for right now."
Reed has two years left on his contract, but he said he's open to a deal that would allow him to retire with the Ravens.
"I always said I wanted to retire here and play for one organization," he said.
Reed also clarified last month's ESPN interview in which he said the Ravens wanted current New York Jets coach Rex Ryan over Harbaugh. The network ran a clip in which Reed expressed his high regard for Ryan, the Ravens' defensive coordinator from 2005 to 2008.
Reed said it's true that Ravens players wanted Ryan to coach them after Brian Billick was fired in January 2008. But Reed said that was before the players even knew Harbaugh was in the mix.
"I still love Rex and I spent a lot of years with Rex," Reed said. "He was like a father figure and a brother. He taught me a lot about the game. But we have a great coach in Baltimore right now ... ESPN is all about drama. It will be hard for me to do another interview with them after that."
