Quin had been a fourth-round pick by the Texans four years earlier, and played a key role on the 2011 and 2012 teams that won the AFC South for the first time in franchise history.
But when Quin became an unrestricted free agent after the 2012 season, the Texans didn't even make him an offer. Instead, they decided to sign the future Hall of Famer Reed to a three-year, $14.875 million ($5 million guaranteed) contract, which ended after a lackluster seven games and five starts.
The Texans went on to go 2-14 in 2013, leading to Gary Kubiak's firing and ushering in the new era of Bill O'Brien.
Quin, however, thrived with the Detroit Lions. He made the Pro Bowl, was second-team All-Pro and led the NFL in interceptions in 2014.
Quin joined Payne & Pendergast on Wednesday morning and said he thought it was cool to be considered "the one who got away" from the Texans.
Quin considered himself to be an important "glue" piece to the team, someone whose skills allowed others to make plays around him.
Without Quin, the Texans became unglued, along with a host of other issues in 2013.
Quin's focus in Detroit was playing well for the Lions. But conversely, he knew that meant it would reflect poorly on the Texans.
"If I would've went to Detroit and been awful, no one would've said that was the worst move," Quin said. "But the fact that I was able to go to Detroit and play well, make a lot of plays, make the Pro Bowl, lead the league in interceptions, things like that, then everybody in Houston was like 'man, it was the worst move we could've made. We let this guy get away' ... It all worked out well for me. Kind of hate it happened the way it did, but it's all good, man."
Part of what allowed Quin to flourish in Detroit was how the Lions' coaching staff used him.
In Houston, Quin played cornerback before moving to safety. But even as a safety, he would drop down to play dime corner in passing situations.
This frustrated Quin, because he said there were plays to be had and calls to be made that weren't getting done with players out of position.
When Quin arrived to Detroit, he was strictly assigned to play safety. This allowed him to see the ball, read the quarterback and make plays he couldn't in Houston.
It wasn't until everything unraveled with Reed, while Quin played well in Detroit, when it was clear the Texans had made a mistake.
Why'd they do it?
Here's more from Quin on P&P:
"What I was told is, they wanted to figure out a way to get past the second round. They wanted to get over the hump, right? To get to the championship game, to hopefully get to the Super Bowl, and so with the experience Ed Reed had from the playoffs, they felt like Ed Reed could get them over the hump.
"So that was one of the reasons they didn’t try to retain or try to bring me back. They went and got Ed Reed to try to help them get over the hump.
"The thing that they didn’t realize is, the season doesn’t start in the second round of the playoffs. You’ve got to play a lot of games just to get there. So I felt like they lost that work ethic of, hey it’s a grind to get to the second round of the playoffs. Yes, if we get there, hopefully he can get us over the hump. But we’ve got to play a lot of good football just to get there. And so, not having that good football throughout the whole year led to them going, what, 2-14 that whole year?"