D.J. Reader: I expect to be back to player I was before tearing quad.
Defensive tackle D.J. Reader joined a new team when he signed with the Lions last month and said this week that it was “super tough” to move on from the Bengals after four productive years in Cincinnati.
Reader’s final moment in a Bengals uniform was not a happy one, however. Reader tore his right quad in Week 15 and he noted that his injury history — he missed seven games in 2022 and 11 games with a torn left quad in 2020 — may have played a role in the Bengals’ decision to look elsewhere.
The Lions gave him a two-year deal, though, and Reader said on The Jim Rome Show this week that he doesn’t expect the injury to have any long-term impact on how he plays the game.
“I don’t see any setbacks keeping me from being able to be right back where I was and the player I was,” Reader said. “When I’m out there playing, I’m one of the top three players at my position. So I don’t think that’s gonna change once I get back and this knee’s back. I think it’ll be, like you said, another setup for greatness to go out there and do this thing.”
Reader’s new partner at defensive tackle Alim McNeill is coming off a strong season and the prospect of teaming those two on the interior with Aidan Hutchinson on the edge is one that will create a lot of excitement about what the team can do defensively this year.
