The son of a former 10-year veteran NFL linebacker, Ed Reynolds II showed from an early age that he shared the same love for the game as his dad.
A two-time, first-team All-Pac-12 safety at Stanford, he declared for the 2014 NFL Draft with one year of eligibility remaining, and was chosen by the Eagles in the fifth round.
"I was really excited," Reynolds says. "From like third grade to eighth grade, I actually lived in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and we would take some trips to Philly. So I had a lot of friends in the area and you always heard about the Eagle fan base. And to play in a city like that was really, really special for me. I'm just glad that they gave me the opportunity."
Finishing up the work necessary for his degree in political science meant Reynolds would begin his career in the NFL with some catching up to do.
"I got to do the three-day rookie minicamp, and then I couldn't be around until my trimester was done. And so then I came in for the last three days of the vet minicamp, which put me a little bit behind," Reynolds says. "But we did have a great (defensive backs) room of older guys. Malcolm Jenkins, Nolan Carroll, Chris Maragos, and Nate Allen. They definitely received our rookie class with open arms. If we had questions, we could ask.
"And then a lot of it was that you wanted to model their behavior. Just paying attention to how they conducted themselves as professionals, they showed up every day, which was a blessing to be able to have guys of that caliber in the room."
The advice Reynolds heard from his dad, who played for the Patriots and Giants, also helped him know what to do and not do as a rookie.
"One of the things I'd heard for a long time is 'the best ability is availability.' So making sure to just take care of my body and making sure I can go out every day and give it full effort," Reynolds says. "I guess one of the other things is 'your film is your résumé.' So don't put anything on film to give them a reason to cut you. And having that sense of urgency every day.
"It's funny, I kind of got to see what rookie life was like firsthand. I used to be a ball boy for the New York Giants when they used to do Training Camp at the University of Albany, and so I got to see how those guys were navigating it.
"Even from that age, I was very attentive to that because I knew that that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to reach the same level that these guys were already at. And so I was just a sponge in any situation that I could be."
Spending the 2014 season on the practice squad, Reynolds was waived in the final cutdown before the 2015 campaign, but was signed to the practice squad again a few days later.
And then when the Eagles placed safety Jerome Couplin on Injured Reserve with a shoulder injury, they promoted Reynolds to the active roster. He'd play in his first game on Thanksgiving in Detroit.
"I was ecstatic. One of the things that as a player I always realized, and my dad kind of reinforced, is look, you spend way more time on a practice field, especially when you get to the league because there's only so many showcases on Sundays, Thursdays, or Mondays. So it was really one of those things where I was just ready to take all of the work and all the preparation that I put in to then be able to showcase it and be a contributor to the team," Reynolds says.
"It was great because I got to play with a bunch of guys that really made me feel comfortable out there between Malcolm and Walter Thurmond. And I felt like during those years we were there, our front seven was probably top three, top five in the league between Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry, Bennie Logan, and Mychal Kendricks.
"So it was one of the things where all you can do is go out there and just play with your hair on fire because you're surrounded by dudes that put in the work and put in the time. You want to make sure that you're holding yourself accountable for them."
Reynolds accounted for his first career interception when the Eagles hosted Buffalo in his third game on December 13. With 1:16 left in the fourth quarter and leading 23-20, he secured the win by picking off Tyrod Taylor at the Philadelphia 33-yard line.
"Earlier in the game, I had taken kind of somewhat wrong angle to try to go get a similar ball and just applied what I learned. Funny enough, I just wanted to try to score a touchdown. The offensive player in me kind of came out," Reynolds laughed. "But I'll never forget, I took a peek to the sideline and Chip (Kelly) and (defensive backs coach) Cory Undlin and all my guys are just yelling, 'Get down! Get down!'
"It took everything in me not to try to run that back for a touchdown because I think I had plenty of space. There's a picture somewhere of all of them just screaming on the sideline get to get the hell down. It was a great moment, though."
Concluding his playing career with the Browns in 2016, Reynolds makes his home in Cleveland, where he and his girlfriend, Olivia Stone, are expecting a baby boy in March.
In January 2022, he co-founded and became the CEO of Amplio Global Consultants.
"My partner, Roger Jones, was the former director of corporate partnerships and sponsorships for the Cleveland Browns before we created Amplio Global," Reynolds says. "It was one of those things where we came together and asked how can we be impactful to startups and to our communities but also have the freedom to be able to choose who we want to work with?
"We get to do a lot of amazing initiatives and build out projects when it comes to brand management or brand strategy marketing. And evaluate sponsorship and partnership deals for a multitude of different brands and companies, that for us, we really do feel like a part of the family. It's very, very client specific. If we feel like we can add value, we will do our best job to do it.
"And we're all over the place. We have some affiliate partners over in the UK, in Spain, and we're having conversations in the Middle East. So we definitely cover a wide range of industries. For us being a startup, we want to be very nimble and malleable to whatever the situation might be. It allows us to be able to play in a lot of different playgrounds."
