You know, the NFL and RuPaul’s Drag Race have more in common than you’d think. Sure, there are the easy, slightly NSFW jokes of “tight ends,” “going deep,” and “two-on-one coverage.” But one thing that became clear is that both drag queens and NFL players need good padding.
For drag queens, padding is what they use to give their bodies their distinctive shape. Football players do that too, wearing shoulder pads, thigh pads, and knee pads. Footballers also have plenty of padding in their helmets, though the way you’d wig is probably a bumpit.
But what we’re talking about here is “pad level,” or the concept of keeping your pads low in a stance or posture that allows a person to gain the upper hand in a one-on-one situation. For wide receivers, pad level factors in concealing which route they’re about to run. For offensive linemen, pad level allows them to ward off defenders, allowing either quarterbacks to find their targets…
…or in the case of Chad Ryland, kick a game-winning field goal. And he thinks he has a defender with one of the “best pad levels” in the league.
Arizona Cardinals kicker thinks Tip Reiman has ‘best pad level’ he’s ever seen
Ryland joined the Arizona Cardinals in 2024 after a single stint in New England. While with the Patriots, who selected Ryland as the 112th overall pick in the 2023 Draft, Chad went 16-for-25 on field goals, with his longest successful kick being a 56-yard attempt that put the Pats over the Denver Broncos, 26-23.
But his 64% field goal completion rate was the lowest in the league among qualified kickers, so the Patriots cut him. In came the Cardinals, signing him to replace an injured Matt Prater. In the 13 games that Ryland played with Arizona, he went 28-for-32 with field goals (87.5%) and 26-for-27 with extra point attempts (96.3%). He had an average of 65.3 yards per kickoff attempt.
Part of Ryland’s success is due to having good protection. It’s hard to kick a field goal if you’re getting hit with a cross-body from a 300-pound defensive linebacker.
Ryland shared that success on June 19, when he shared a photo of himself suited up on his Instagram. “Year three on deck!” he wrote, with his teammates Elijah Higgins (“heem”), Mack Wilson (“F-ck on”) cheering him on.
One person, though, had something different to say: “You better protect him how you protected me, Tip Reiman,” wrote Caleb Griffin,
Griffin is a former kicker for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign football team, the Fighting Illini. Griffin played alongside Reiman (whom the Cardinals selected 82nd in the 2024 NFL Draft).
Ryland was quick to jump in and assured Griffin that Reiman is doing his job. “[He] has the best pad level I’ve ever seen,” wrote Chad, to which Tip chimed in with two “laughing so hard I’m crying” emojis.
Reiman was considered a “quiet consistent contributor” to the offense in his rookie season, third on the tight end chart behind Trey McBride and Elijah Higgins. He started nine games and logged 450 offensive snaps, more than Higgins’ 411.
However, Higgins leaned more into wide receiver territory, whereas Reiman was part of Drew Petzing’s strategy of “throw a tight end at it.” The Cardinals’ offensive coordinator loves a blocking tight end and uses them like demolition equipment to clear routes for running backs. USA Today described Reiman as “a mauler in the run game” and the Cardinals’ go-to blocking tight end.
Many expect Reiman to continue his “quiet, critical role” on the offensive line. And if he does his job, that means Ryland will have enough time to do his.
You might say he could even “pad” the clock.