Austin Reed (American football)

Austin Reed (born February 22, 2000) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the Southern Illinois Salukis, West Florida Argonauts, and Western Kentucky Hilltoppers before signing with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2024.

Austin Reed

Personal information
Born:	(2000-02-22) February 22, 2000 (age 25) St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:	214 lb (97 kg)
Career information
Position:	Quarterback
High school:	St. Augustine (FL)
College:	Southern Illinois (2018) West Florida (2019–2021) Western Kentucky (2022–2023)
NFL draft:	2024: undrafted
Career history
Chicago Bears (2024)*
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
NCAA Division II champion (2019) C-USA Newcomer of the Year (2022) Second-team All-C-USA (2022)
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Early life

Austin Reed grew up in St. Augustine Beach, Florida, and attended St. Augustine High School.

College career

Southern Illinois

Reed began his college football career at Southern Illinois.

West Florida

Reed transferred to West Florida in the Summer of 2019. He led the 2019 West Florida Argonauts football team to the NCAA Division II national championship. During the national championship season he totaled 4,084 passing yards with 40 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.^[1]

In July 2021, Reed signed the first Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) sponsorship in West Florida history, striking a deal with the Running Wild chain of running stores.^[2]

Western Kentucky

After the 2021 season, he entered the NCAA transfer portal and committed in March 2022 to Western Kentucky.^[3] He was selected as the team's starting quarterback during summer camp in August 2022.^[4]

In his first game at Western Kentucky, he threw four touchdown passes in a 38–28 victory over Austin Peay.^[5] Reed passed for more yards in the 2022 season than any other college football quarterback with 4,744 passing yards on the season.^[6]

On January 6, 2024, Reed announced that he would enter the 2024 NFL draft.^[7]

Statistics

Legend
	D-II champion
	Led the NCAA
Bold	Career high

Season	Team	Games			Passing								Rushing
		GP	GS	Record	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/A	TD	Int	Rtg	Att	Yds	Avg	TD
2018	Southern Illinois	Redshirted
2019	West Florida	15	14	13–1	279	491	56.8	4,089	8.3	40	11	149.2	72	149	2.1	6
2020	West Florida	Season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	West Florida	11	11	9–2	205	378	54.2	3,375	8.9	38	9	157.6	28	172	6.1	3
2022	Western Kentucky	14	14	9–5	389	602	64.6	4,744	7.9	40	11	149.1	91	224	2.5	8
2023	Western Kentucky	12	12	7–5	289	470	61.5	3,324	7.1	31	11	138.0	42	100	2.4	4
Career		52	51	38−13	1,162	1,941	59.8	15,548	8.0	149	42	148.2	233	645	2.8	21

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables

Height	Weight	Arm length	Hand span	40-yard dash	10-yard split	20-yard split
6 ft 1+1⁄2 in (1.87 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	30+1⁄8 in (0.77 m)	9+7⁄8 in (0.25 m)	4.82 s	1.67 s	2.81 s
All values from NFL Combine[8][9]

Reed signed as an undrafted free agent with the Chicago Bears after going undrafted in the 2024 NFL draft.^[10][11] He completed 12 of 16 passes for 123 yards and one touchdown during the preseason, finishing with a passer rating of 117.4.^[12] Reed was waived by the Bears on August 27, 2024, then signed to the practice squad the next day.^[13][14]

Reed signed a reserve/future contract with Chicago on January 6, 2025.^[15] On August 25, Reed was waived by the Bears.^[16]