So the Joe Nedney confidence post is up and running and I figured we may as well get this one up as well. Jeff Reed was brought in when Joe Nedney's injury complications became too much to deal with. In truth, he could have just donned the number six and all we would have suspected was Nedney got a little bit fatter and quite a bit douchier. Jeff Reed is largely the same kicker, albeit not as consistent.
His kickoffs look the same, there's not a whole lot of "wow" there, but they do hang for a decent amount of time and the coverage units are generally on point when he kicked. As far as field goals are concerned, he nailed nine-of-ten and made all of his extra points. He looked good, but I still view his performance as "unremarkable."
Reed was released from the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier in the year after going only 15-of-22 on field goals and generally doing things like wrecking bathrooms and unwary towel dispensers, or something similar. Still, could he be a better option than Nedney going forward? It's definitely possible. People seem to be voting high for Nedney in the confidence polls thus far, which is totally alright - he doesn't look horrible, but my confidence in him is definitely on the down-slope with his age and health.
If the 49ers have a chance to retain both, I'm sure which I'm happier with, at this point. If Nedney is healthy, I suppose that the best course of action would be for him to start. If he isn't healthy, I consider Reed to be a viable option and he shouldn't come at a high price. It's unlikely he earned himself a big pay day in his five games with San Francisco.
Still, we're going to proceed as if Reed is the starter. Basically the same criteria as Nedney, just replace age and things like that with inconsistency and the like. I'm going to be voting a six, personally.