Justin Reid checked another box Wednesday night.
If you know anything about the New Orleans Saints’ safety, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
He's the walking definition of a polymath, a person of encyclopedic learning.
Once Reid puts his mind on doing something, you best believe he’s going to get it done.
The Dutchtown High grad is not just a two-time Super Bowl champion who just completed his eighth NFL season.
He's an avid golfer.
He's a chess player, ranking somewhere in the 75th percentile of competitive players.
Oh, and if the Saints are ever in a crunch and need an emergency kicker, Reid can handle that, too. (He made an extra point and barely missed a 44-yard field goal last summer in training camp.)
Reid officially added “photographer” to his resume Wednesday night as he sat on the baseline at the Smoothie King Center and took pictures and shot video for the New Orleans Pelicans’ social media team for the game against the Detroit Pistons.
“I’m having a blast,” Reid said at halftime.
And no, this wasn’t just some gimmick for clicks and likes.
The Saints and Pelicans take their social media content seriously.
“He was a natural,” said Alex Restrepo, senior director of social media for both franchises. “From video, photo and helping shoot the courtside broadcast angle, he proved he has a great eye for content.”
Reid, who wants to someday go into broadcasting, became interested in photography a while back when he was looking at his InstaGram page.
“My content on my page needs to get better,” he told himself.
Reid had attended the NFL’s broadcast boot camp and the league’s social media and marketing boot camp two years ago. That led him to buying a nice camera. But the door really opened during the season when he injured his knee in the first quarter of the game against the Miami Dolphins. He missed the following two weeks.
“I turn everything into an opportunity,” Reid said. “So when I got hurt, that’s a negative. I turned that extra time into a positive by going to hang out with the Saints’ production team. I had about 10 people feeding me information. ‘How do I do this? How do I do that?’ They poured into me and gave me a head start.”
Reid was inquisitive, wanting to be just as thorough about his new hobby as he is about studying game film. He’s a Stanford graduate, so him catching on quickly shouldn’t really surprise anyone. And if he didn’t understand something, he asked questions. Lots and lots of questions.
“I asked a sh -- ton of questions,” Reid said.
If you don't believe Reid, just ask social media member Megan Kottemann.
“Oh, God did he ask questions,” Kottemann said. “He was in in full Stanford brain where he’s asking such intelligent questions. He made me question myself. Sometimes I had to bring him to other people that have a deeper knowledge.”
Reid got a chance to put his knowledge to the test Wednesday when he got his first assignment at the Pelicans’ game.
“After the first five minutes, I started to get a feel for it,” Reid said. “Pictures. Videos. And then I grabbed the big boy camera and was doing the live feed.”
Sitting on the base line can sometimes be scary. Not that Reid was ever worried about Zion Williamson or any of the other players crashing into him.
“I would’ve just tackled him,” Reid said with a grin.
And he’s probably right. Reid tends to tackle anything he wants to tackle, including this latest venture. Eventually when his career is over, he wants to be in front of the camera instead of behind it.
“I felt like knowing this production side would be useful because you have more high-level conversations with people in getting things done,” Reid said.
Reid went to social media to express just how pleased he was with his first real gig.
“Emergency kicker, emergency camera man, emergency whateva you need!” Reid posted on X. “Side quest complete.”
It was followed, of course, by a green check mark.