Ed Reed is going to retire with several NFL records to his name. (USATSI)
Ed Reed is going to retire with several NFL records to his name. (USATSI)

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has only enshrined one true safety over the past 26 years, but that could be changing soon.

For the second time in less than a month, the NFL is losing a potential Hall of Fame safety to retirement. The Baltimore Ravens announced on Wednesday night that Reed has officially decided to retire. The team held a retirement press conference for him on Thursday.  

Reed's decision to retire comes exactly 26 days after former Steelers safety Troy Polamalu made the same decision.

It's fitting that the two players are going out in the same offseason because they had so much in common: Both players are former first-round picks who spent over a decade playing in the AFC North and each won at least one Super Bowl with the team that drafted them.

Reed spent 11 of his 12 seasons in Baltimore and finished off his career with the Ravens by helping them to a Super Bowl win in 2012. Reed then spent the 2013 season playing for both the Jets and Texans, but didn't play at all in 2014. 

Despite playing his final season with two other teams, Reed said on Thursday that Baltimore is where he belongs. 

"Home is Baltimore," Reed said. "This is home. Baltimore, I love the city. I love this organization. I hope I did more than I was supposed to as a Raven."

The Ravens will induct Reed into the team's Ring of Honor on Nov. 22 before a home game with the St. Louis Rams. Maybe they should've inducted him in a game before the Browns or Bengals though because those were two teams Reed loved to play against.

"Every quarterback in Cleveland I loved. Cincinnati, too," Reed replied when asked which quarterbacks he liked going up against.

Besides terrorizing Browns and Bengals quarterbacks, what made Reed so good?

Here's three things to know about his career.

1. Reed was one of the best ever to play the safety position. Now that Reed's officially retired, we can stop using the term "Ball-hawking safety" and just say "that guy plays a lot like Ed Reed" and everyone will get the point.

Over his 12 year career, Reed went to nine Pro Bowls, was named first-team All-Pro five times and even won a defensive player of the year award in 2004. Over 174 regular season games with the Ravens, Jets and Texans, Reed recorded 531 tackles and 64 interceptions, while also forcing 11 fumbles. Reed's also tallied seven career pick-six's, which ranks 10th all-time in NFL history. 

Reed's 64 interceptions are the sixth most in NFL history, which is impressive, but not quite as impressive as his NFL record 1,590 interception return yards. 

Whenever Reed picked off a pass, he was a threat to score. During his career with the Ravens, Reed recorded a 107-yard pick-6 (2008) and a 106-yard pick-6 (2004), two returns that still stand as the longest two interception returns in NFL history. No other player in NFL history has even ever had a 104-yard pick-6. 

Reed also notched 13 multi-interception games in his career, which is the most in NFL history. 

It's probably also worth mentioning that Reed was a master motivator. Just check out this clip from halftime of a Miami-Florida State game during Reed's college career. 

2. Reed always found the end zone. Reed's record for the longest pick-6 in NFL history might not even be the most impressive touchdown record he holds. During his 12-year career, Reed also found three different ways into the end zone.

Besides scoring on an interception return, Reed also scored on a punt return, a fumble return, and a return of a blocked punt during his 12 seasons.

Overall, Reed scored 14 touchdowns during his career (including the playoffs) and is the only player ever to score on an interception return, a fumble return, a punt return and return of a blocked punt. 

3. Reed had the NFL's respect. When Patriots coach Bill Belichick calls you the best, that actually means you just might be the best and before the Patriots played the Ravens in the AFC title game after the 2012 season, that's exactly what Belichick said about Reed. 

"Can't say I've ever coached against anybody better than Ed Reed in the secondary," Belichick said. 

Besides Belichick, Reed also had the respect of almost every other player in the NFL and it showed on Wednesday night when several current players sent out tweets honoring Reed. 

Donte Stallworth had high praise for his former teammate. 

Arian Foster and Ryan Clark also sent out tweets.