A familiar quarterback returns on a short week as Baltimore prepares for Thursday’s game against Jacksonville.
The Baltimore Ravens signed quarterback Austin Reed to their practice squad on November 2 after injuries to Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley. The team waived fullback Lucas Scott to make room, according to its Monday announcement.
File photo: M&T Bank Stadium during a Baltimore Ravens home game on October 24, 2021; not a photograph of Austin Reed or a November 2026 game. Photo: Mrgoggins90 (cropped). Source photograph · CC BY-SA 4.0.
A practice-squad contract is his confirmed status; Thursday’s game-day role remains a separate decision.
Back in Baltimore
Reed knows Baltimore’s playbook from training camp and Declan Doyle’s offense from Chicago in 2025. The Ravens face Jacksonville on Thursday.
This preseason, Reed completed six of 12 passes for 59 yards, with a touchdown and an interception, and scored on a 14-yard run. The club described him as a likely backup for Joe Fagnano.
A route through the UFL and NFL camps
Reed’s August introduction by the Ravens documented his season with the United Football League’s Dallas Renegades. The club credited him with 1,923 passing yards and 21 touchdown passes in that campaign.
The same account traced his early NFL opportunities with Chicago. Reed joined the Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2024 and subsequently spent time on their practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract in January 2025 before being waived that August.
The Ravens’ August account also traced a college career that began at Southern Illinois in 2018, where he redshirted without taking a snap. He transferred to West Florida the following spring, played there in 2019 and 2021 around the cancelled 2020 season, and subsequently moved to Western Kentucky.
The same account credited Reed with 376 passing yards in his Renegades season opener. Those spring-football starts supplied recent competitive experience before his opportunities in Baltimore.
The college record behind the name
At Western Kentucky, Reed produced consecutive seasons with more than 3,000 passing yards. His official university biography records 3,340 yards and 31 passing touchdowns in 2023. He had previously led West Florida to the 2019 Division II national championship.
Western Kentucky’s announcement of his initial Bears signing also highlighted his 497-yard, four-touchdown performance in the New Orleans Bowl during his earlier season with the Hilltoppers.
His university biography records 40 touchdown passes and eight rushing touchdowns in 2022, when he earned Conference USA Newcomer of the Year recognition. The college record gives Reed a substantial body of starting experience, separate from the smaller sample of NFL preseason appearances that Baltimore can assess directly.
His return adds depth as Baltimore prepares for Jacksonville. Continue following the Ravens and the rest of the NFL in Taken Social’s Sports section.
