Ed Reed Learns About Guardian Caps During Awkward Back-And-Forth With Peyton Manning On The 'ManningCast'

Former Baltimore Ravens superstar Ed Reed appeared on the ‘ManningCast’ on Monday night during his former team's big-time road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and things got awkward at one point when a player wearing a guardian cap caught his attention.

As the ‘Monday Night Football’ broadcast showed the Buccaneers in a huddle, Reed noticed offensive lineman Luke Goedeke was wearing a guardian cap. This led the Hall of Famer to make a joke about Peyton Manning's helmet, but Manning wasn't exactly in the joking mood when it came to something involving player safety. Reed didn't exactly get the hint as the two had an awkward back-and-forth.

"Peyton, they got your helmet out there," Reed said. "Did they make that a bug helmet? That’s the new thing right?"

"That’s the guardian cap," Peyton replied. "Most guys wear it in practice. But you can wear it in the game if you want to for safety."

"Now, how much safety is that though?" Reed asked.

"It’s an extra layer of protection," Manning explained. "Like I said, all of the players are wearing them during training camp at practice. And then players are allowed to wear them if they want at the game. It’s another layer of protection. So, makes sense to me."

This was clearly Manning's attempt at moving off of the subject, but Reed kept prying, and for whatever reason brought boxing into the conversation.

"You really think that protection is going to do something past that carbon fiber that’s on the helmet? Usually, when a boxer knocks somebody out, he punch the crap out of him in the jaw," Reed began. "He only hit him in the top of the head. He gets hit here. When a person gets knocked out, their neck is gonna snap. It’s gonna send a shock and a nerve and make them go numb. It’s not gonna be just from the frontal lobe. It’s gonna be because of the head movement from the lack of muscle strength in the neck. Or the weakness thereof which happens over time."

While Reed's comments alone made the few minutes on the broadcast awkward, the Bucs actually scored a touchdown during the middle of it, but Manning couldn't really get a word in about the play with Reed giving his take about why the guardian caps may not be effective.

It's a safe bet that Reed wouldn't have donned a guardian cap if they were around during his playing days.