Panthers sign ex-49ers safety Eric Reid

The Carolina Panthers have announced the signing of former San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid.

Reid spent nearly seven months on the open market after becoming a free agent in March. While the market for free agent safeties was slow to develop this offseason, there was some debate on the reason for the lack of interest in Reid. Many believe his involvement in protesting against social injustice during pre-game national anthems has kept NFL teams from entertaining the option fo signing him.

"There are probably teams that won't want to talk to me because of it," Reid said in December. "I'm hopeful that I will be on a team next year, but if not, again, that's OK with me."

Reid has already stated that he will cease kneeling during the national anthem in 2018. He visited with the Cincinnati Bengals earlier in the offseason but was not signed, and the Tennessee Titans expressed some interest.

"We understand you have to change with the times," Reid said while speaking with reporters following Stanford's pro day in March. "I'm not saying I'm going to stop being active because I won't. I'm just going to consider different ways to be active, different ways to bring awareness to the issues of this country and improve on the issues happening in this country.

"I don't think it will be in the form of protesting during the anthem. I say 'during' because it's crazy that the narrative changed to we were 'protesting the anthem,' and that wasn't the case. I think we're going to take a different approach to how we're going to be active."

Reid, who the 49ers selected as the 18th-overall draft pick out of LSU in 2013, missed three games early in the 2017 season with a PCL injury suffered during a Week 2 contest against the Seattle Seahawks. Upon returning to the lineup, Jaquiski Tartt had already taken over Reid's role. To get him onto the football field, the 49ers briefly used Reid at linebacker last season.

After Jimmie Ward was lost for the season with a broken forearm, Reid returned to the starting lineup at strong safety with Tartt playing free safety. Tartt also suffering a broken forearm opened the door for impressive rookie safety Adrian Colbert.

Reid was named to the Pro Bowl and the PFWA All-Rookie Team following the 2013 season. Over his five-year NFL career, he has 70 game appearances while starting all but one of those games and registered 318 combined tackles, 10 interceptions, a sack, 34 passes defensed, and two forced fumbles.

"As I said before, I stand by what I've done, I know why I've done it," Reid said at Stanford's pro day. "My faith in God is the reason. I can go to sleep at night confident that I did what I was called to do."

While general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan never closed the door on possibly re-signing Reid, the 49ers feel they are set at the safety position with Tartt and Colbert. Shanahan recently said the door was open for Reid to return to the 49ers, but as a backup.

"I don't think that's what Eric wants," Shanahan said in August. "I told you the reason we decided to go that direction is because we made a tough decision, but we had to do it. We went with Tartt. We thought that was the right way to go. You can't give a lot of money to backups, and that's what he would be if he came here.

"But, I like Eric. Eric is a good player. He's a good person. That'd be great if we could add him in that role. I don't think he would be that interested in it."