Reed's timing is way off ?

Reed deserves a new deal only if he's at 100 percent. No wonky hip. No more nagging neck pain. Throwing millions at a player who is one nasty hit away from retirement isn't a smart investment — even if Reed is a franchise icon.

A month ago, new Reed jersey estimated he was at 35 percent. I'm not a doctor, and I'm no longer a mathlete, but I'm guessing that puts him at about 41 percent right now. He admitted Wednesday that he doesn't know if he'll be ready for "the first game against the Jets or the first game in October, November or December."

But Reed is a bogeyman only when he's healthy, and right now, he isn't — another reason his timing is way off.

"Peyton Manning doesn't sleep when he sees No. 20 going to Indy," Reed boasted. Meanwhile, I'm guessing Manning's sleeping patterns won't get out of whack when Antrel Rolle — the league's highest-paid safety — and the Giants host Manning and the Colts in Week 2.

Reed is right. The only other safety who can hoist his Hall of Fame jock, used or unused, is Troy Polamalu — though I'm not sure why Polamalu football jersey would want to.

"There are six, seven players in front of me [financially] at my position that I honestly wouldn't let hold my jock," Reed said. "And I don't even wear one."

But in the NFL, money is respect and respect is power. And just two seasons ago, Reed was one of the league's most devastating defensive forces — and he knows it.

I know it's a tough sell to the man on the street who believes that if a player signs a contract, he should honor it — especially when that player missed four games in 2009.

That's not to say Reed doesn't have a point.

Who knows if these issues will affect the team when two-a-days begin next week in Westminster? But with the new Ravens jersey poised to go on a deep run, why tinker with the chemistry, Ed?

(Hey, maybe Reed figured he could take the heat off Flacco by speaking out again.)

First came concern about the fitness level of Terrell Suggs after he skipped offseason workouts. Then Joe Flacco questioned the signing of Marc Bulger after he was tracked down by Pedro Gomez — I mean Hensley — at an autograph signing over the weekend.

Chalk it up as it another unwelcome distraction for a Ravens team with serious Super Bowl aspirations.

This ill-timed cash grab comes two weeks after Reed {photo by The Baltimore Sun} first voiced his displeasure in an interview on 105.7 The Fan.

"It's like a marriage," Reed said. "There are going to be disagreements. You got to work with that person. When it starts to get too much, you got to pull back [and ask] 'Is it worth it or should I take a pay cut and be on another team?'"

At his football camp in Randallstown, Reed told Jamison Hensley — the Baltimore Sun reporter who has entered Darrelle Revis territory with his lockdown press coverage of the Ravens over the past week — that he's unhappy with his contract. Reed will make a little less than $20 million before the deal expires at the end of the 2012 season.

You can throw "guffaw" in there, too, because Reed truly had a couple of quality one-liners.

Whatever the reason, the star Ravens safety made a lot of fans scratch their heads, roll their eyes and/or groan loudly on Wednesday with more comments about his contract non-situation.

Ed Reed football jersey might be losing his mind. Or maybe the anesthesia has yet to wear off after offseason hip surgery.