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He's attracted all of the attention this offseason, but Rob Ryan isn't the only newcomer to Rex Ryan's coaching staff. Ed Reed, who'll find himself in the Hall of Fame as soon as he's eligible, also joined the Bills as an assistant defensive backs coach.

Like the Ryan bros, Reed isn't having any issue saying what's truly on his mind. For instance, take Reed's assessment of last year's defense.

He basically told reporters they were lazy, which might not sit well with Rex.

"You have to talk out there," Reed said Thursday, per New York Upstate. "If you're not talking, something's wrong. In order for you to talk, you have to know your job, what you have to do in order to get guys lined up. If you're not talking, we're not going to be successful. If you watch the film from last year, you saw a lot of confusion, a lot of no communication, and guys not giving effort.

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Ed Reed called out the Bills defense for poor effort last year. USATSI

"So with that in mind, there couldn't have been too much communicating out there. Some of the offensive guys even said it, 'You could hear a pin drop at practice last year, Ed.' For that to be effective, for us to be effective we have to be communicate. To see those guys commenting like that, we're getting better. From where we were last year, from what I heard, we've gotten a lot better."

This should sound familiar. When the Bills released Mario Williams in March, CBS Sports' Pete Prisco took a look at his tape to see if he slacked off. That's exactly what he found or as Prisco put it, "Let's just say he did a lot of dancing."

To be blunt: Williams dogged it last year. It's hard to believe this was the same player the Bills saw in the first three years after signing him to a $100-million contract in 2012.

The Bills cut Williams, which might already be paying off.

"It's going well I think," Reed said. "I can only comment off of what coaches have told me about last year. It wasn't like this last year, Ed. I promise you. We didn't have guys coming upstairs wanting to ask questions or asking questions to coaches. I can count on my hand how many guys came up here last year to ask questions about the defense. Now we're having guys wanting to meet and want to understand what's going on. Totally bought in to what we're doing as coaches."

With that being said, Williams can't be blamed for the Bills' defensive struggles a year ago. In 2015, the Bills surrendered 356.4 yards and 22.4 points per game. Those are hardly awful numbers -- they landed near the middle of the pack -- but consider the Bills allowed 312.2 yards and 18.1 points per game during the 2014 season under tJim Schwartz. Also remember Rex is a so-called defensive mastermind. So, if anyone deserves the blame, it's Rex.

Perhaps that's why he's considering a bold strategy to stabilize the defense.

In Reed's career, he notched 64 picks -- the seventh-most in NFL history.