Jeremy Reaves’ breakout pro football season culminates this weekend when he joins the best players in the NFL at the league’s Pro Bowl Games in Las Vegas.

Reaves, the former South Alabama star, went from roster afterthought to one of the mainstays of the Washington Commanders in just a few short months. The 26-year-old safety was named first-team All-Pro and chosen to participate in the Pro Bowl as a special teamer after finishing among the league leaders with 17 tackles in kickoff and punt coverage.

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“It’s super exciting,” Reaves said last week during a visit to Mobile. “It’s the 5-year-old kid in me — I wish I could go back and tell him ‘man, you actually did it. You weathered the storm and finally got to what you always thought you would be.’ It’s everything I thought it would be.”

Despite being named Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2017 and playing in the Reese’s Senior Bowl, Reaves went undrafted out of South Alabama. The Pensacola, Fla., native signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, but was released at the end of the 2018 preseason.

Reaves caught on with Washington, but was cut four consecutive years and wound up on the practice squad each time. He played in a handful of late-season games during those four seasons — recording his first career interception in 2020 — but never could secure a permanent roster spot.

That finally changed in 2022, when Reaves made the Commanders’ 53-man roster out of training camp for the first time. He appeared in all 17 games, totaling 33 tackles and becoming one of the league’s best on special teams.

Reaves was voted into the Pro Bowl in December. In a now-viral video, he was given the news in surprise fashion by Commanders head coach Ron Rivera, resulting in tears for both of them.

“I believe in a higher power and I believe in God,” Reaves said. “And God took me through my season of waiting and I had to go through my storm to get to where I am today. All of that prepared me for what I’ve gotten. I can’t give you ‘oh, I did this different. I did that different.’ I’ve had the same (training) program every year in my career. It just kind of all fell into place at one time.”

Though 2022 was a year of professional triumph for Reaves, it came after great personal tragedy. His mother, Rose, died in November 2021.

But Reaves persevered. He not only finally made Washington’s roster, he earned widespread acclaim from more than just teammates and coaches, getting voted by both the media and players around the league as a first-team All-Pro — the best player in the NFL at his position.

“That selection probably meant the most to me, because that’s a big deal,” Reaves said. “There are a lot of great players in the league that have never been All-Pro. So I don’t take that lightly. I’m super-fortunate and thankful for my teammates and my support (network). All the way from when I started playing little league to high school to South to where I am today, it took a village. Everybody played a part.”

Reaves said he is signed up for three different “events” at the Pro Bowl, which has eschewed its traditional standard all-star game format for a number of light-hearted skills competitions. He’ll participate in dodgeball, compete in a bench-press contest and then join his NFC teammates for a flag football game.

What the future holds for Reaves after the Pro Bowl is not yet known, however. He’s an unrestricted free agent, meaning he has the right to sign with whichever team he can streak a deal once the NFL’s free agency period officially begins March 15.

And while he enters the offseason with uncertain status once again, things are not the same as it years past. Now, he’s negotiating from a position of strength as a first-team All-Pro.

“I’m in very different spot,” Reaves said. “It’s different being a free agent when you know you’re a practice squad player and you get released, whereas when you go into free agency as a guy who just went to a Pro Bowl, you’re All-Pro.

“There’s an excitement with it, but there is uncertainty at the same time. I don’t know what our team’s going to do, or what other teams are going to do. I like Washington and I hope to be there. I hope we can get something done. But there’s a business side of it, too. I’m excited to see. This is a new step for me.”

Speaking of success stories, Reaves said he watched with pride as South Alabama enjoyed its best season as an FBS program in 2022. The Jaguars finished 10-3, doubling their win total from the previous season and playing in a bowl game for the first time since Reaves was a junior in 2016.

South Alabama’s head coach is now Kane Wommack, who was defensive coordinator for Reaves’ final two college seasons. Reaves said the Jaguars’ program in 2022 became what he “always envisioned it to be.”

“I remember when I signed here in 2014 out of high school, I said I wanted to do something here that had never been done and I wanted to create a pathway for people after me,” Reaves said. “I think I checked off a couple of those boxes.

“And so to see what it’s become now is what I always wanted it to be when I was there. We were the building blocks on what it is now. And so it’s super-cool to come back and see the stadium and just the excitement around the team and what they’re putting on the field. It’s super-cool, man.”

The NFL Pro Bowl Games take place Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. ESPN and ABC will broadcast the event beginning at 2 p.m. Central.