Baltimore Ravens QB Austin Reed (15) celebrates his touchdown with teammates, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
There was nothing unusual about Austin Reed’s 14-yard touchdown scramble in the fourth quarter of the Baltimore Ravens’ first preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday. The fourth-string QB saw an opening on the left side of the field, took off and snuck inside the pylon to extend Baltimore’s lead. An insignificant moment, some will say, with little impact on the outcome of the game (or, perhaps, the regular-season roster).
But for Reed, his touchdown in the 24-7 victory was a fitting culmination to a wild past few months.
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In addition to his touchdown run, Reed — a 26-year-old from St. Augustine Beach, Florida — also completed both of his passes on the night. Not bad for a quarterback who became a Raven only three days earlier after an injury to previous fourth-stringer Skylar Thompson. As vertigo-inducing as Reed’s past week has been, however, it’s nothing compared to the roller coaster ride his twin daughters, Tatum and Beckham, took him on this spring.
Reed’s wife, Peyton, gave birth via emergency C-section to their daughters at just 27 weeks pregnant. Tatum and Beckham both weighed less than three pounds. Reed turned to his faith in God during a time of such immense uncertainty, saying in a Facebook video that all he could do was trust.
“As believers,” he said, “we’re called to have faith when we don’t control things, and to trust everything is gonna work out the way it’s supposed to.”
That’s what he tried to do, and after a touch-and-go 83-day stay in the NICU, they were allowed to go home June 13. Reed captured the joyous moment with a post on Instagram, which doubled as a letter to his newborn daughters.
“What does it mean to trust God?” his letter read in part. “It doesn’t mean to trust Him when it’s all going smooth, it doesn’t mean to trust Him when everything goes exactly the way you want it to. It means to trust that His hand is in every minute of your lives, no matter how you may see it.
“… You two girls have glorified God in 12 weeks more than you will ever know. After a 83 day NICU journey it is time for y’all to come home with Mom and Dad. We love you so much and are so thankful to be the ones to share in your journey. I hope one day you can feel as proud of yourselves as we feel for you.”
On Saturday night in Baltimore, Peyton held Tatum and Beckham as they watched their father’s TD scamper, and Dad got to hold his girls for some postgame pictures. He told teammates on the sideline that he was on the way to a doctor’s appointment with them when the Ravens called.
When Tatum and Beckham were born this spring, Reed was starring for the Dallas Renegades of the United Football League. In his lone season with the team, despite the chaos in his family’s life, Reed still finished second in passing yards (1,923) and set a single-season record for passing touchdowns (21). He threw for 376 yards in Dallas’ season-opener, which set a UFL single-game record.
Reed developed his gunslinging reputation at three collegiate stops (Southern Illinois, West Florida, Western Kentucky). With West Florida in 2019, Reed quarterbacked the Argonauts to a Division-II national championship. Then with Western Kentucky in 2022, he led all of FBS in passing yards with 4,746, surpassing current NFL stars like Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, C.J. Stroud and Bo Nix.
Despite his prolific collegiate career, Reed went undrafted in 2024 and signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent. He spent the season on Chicago’s practice squad and signed a reserve/future contract afterward, but he was waived last August. He was out of football last fall until the Renegades gave him a shot in January.
Through it all, Reed has proudly sported multiple prominent faith-based tattoos.
On the inside of his right forearm is the Greek word “tetelestai,” which is translated “it is finished.” Jesus uttered this in John 19:30 just before His atoning death on the cross. Reed also has a tattoo referencing God’s words in Revelation 22:13 on the outside of his right forearm, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
Meanwhile, on the outside of his left forearm he has a cross with the famous verse John 3:16 written inside it, all surrounded by a crown of thorns. Just below that tattoo is another that reads “Psalm 27:1,” which says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid?”
Reed’s Instagram handle is “god.is.great.16” and his bio reads in part, “I am nothing without Jesus.” Meanwhile in his X bio, Reed writes that “I am nothing without my savior Jesus Christ” and displays a photo of the Bible verse Acts 20:24.
In August 2023, before his final year with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers after his breakout 2022 campaign, he talked football and faith on the Sports Spectrum Podcast.
“I’m a strong believer in every single day that I wake up is a blessing, and everything that’s been given to me in this life was given to me by the Lord,” he said. “… I am nothing without my Lord and Savior.”
Reed explained that it was his parents who first introduced him to the Christian faith, and since then, his relationship with God has flourished.
“I feel very strongly about the fact that if you have a close relationship with God and are truly deep in prayer and you ask the Lord for direction, He will reveal to you what the plan that He has for your life is,” Reed said.
“I trust in the Lord with a lot of things in my life,” Reed said on the “Up & Adams Show” before the 2024 NFL Draft, “and I really do believe He has called me to do this and there’s something bigger for me planned in the NFL.”
With Lamar Jackson cemented as the starter in Baltimore, Tyler Huntley locked in as the backup and Joe Fagano an undrafted rookie, Reed will likely need to find a role on the practice squad in order to stick in the NFL. Yet even if he accomplishes nothing more as a quarterback on the gridiron, by God’s grace he’s already given his daughters a gift they’ll treasure for a lifetime.
All from a routine QB scramble for a touchdown in a “meaningless” preseason game.
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