Eric Reid’s position switch turned out to be a short-lived one.
The 49ers moved Reid to linebacker ahead of last Sunday’s game against the Eagles and Reid spent the afternoon there, but he won’t be back at the spot when the Cardinals roll into Santa Clara this Sunday. Reid is back at safety after Jimmie Ward went down with a broken arm and said that he’s happy to be back in a familiar setting.
“I had fun this past week,” Reid said, via the San Jose Mercury News. “It was cool to be involved in a lot of the blitz packages and stuff. I prefer safety. That’s what I’ve played my whole life, but if the team needs me to play linebacker, then I’ll do it. When I’m on the field, I just do my job. Even though I wasn’t head over heels with the change initially, I knew I had a job to do and I knew I couldn’t let my teammates down. Whatever the situation is, I’m going to do it for my teammates.”
The Ward injury made moving Reid back to safety an easy choice for the 49ers, but they may have injury issues to deal with at linebacker as well. Reuben Foster missed last week’s game and has been healthy enough to play in just two games so far this season, so they’ll be hoping his two limited practices to start the week set him up for a spot in the lineup this weekend.