Seahawks get bad news from Falcons extending Grady Jarrett
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks need to find a way to sign Jarran Reed after 2019. But with the Falcons paying Grady Jarrett a ton, Seattle might be priced out from Reed.
On Monday the Atlanta Falcons and Grady Jarrett agreed to a contract extension of four-years and $68 million. This averages out to $17 million a season. Jarran Reed of the Seahawks will be a free agent after 2019 unless Seattle slaps the franchise tag on him. This seems unlikely. What is likely is that Reed is going to get paid a lot of money by someone somewhere, it just might not be Seattle.
The problem for general manager John Schneider and Seattle is that not only did they need to re-sign quarterback Russell Wilson before next offseason (which they have already done), but they need to find money for the best linebacker in the NFL, Bobby Wagner.
Wagner is a free agent after 2019 as well. Seattle is probably already looking to pay Wagner at least $17 million because that is what the New York Jets unfathomably paid C.J. Mosley to sign with them. And Mosley is not in the same universe of player as Wagner.
But Reed and Jarrett are fairly comparable. Jarrett has consistently been the better player over his career but Reed has the more recent history of outstanding success. Specifically, Jarrett has 14 sacks over his four year career with a high of six. Reed, who is actually four months older than Jarrett but has one less season in the NFL, has 13.5 career sacks but had just three combined sacks prior to 2018.
And therein lies the problem for the Seahawks. The whole world is simply about “what have you done for me lately?” And lately, Reed has been unbelievably great. Last year he had 10.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss. Only two other interior defensive linemen in Seattle’s franchise history had 10 or more. One of them is John Randle, who was very good in a short time with Seattle. The other is Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy. Reed put himself in rarified air in 2018.
3 players Seahawks can't lose in 2019 besides Wilson and Wagner. dark. Next
Reed’s agency, Young Money APAA Sports, will ask for the kind of money Jarrett got from Atlanta. The question is whether the Seahawks will pay that. Certainly, however, they will give Reed 2019 to prove he can be just as good as he was in 2018. But if Reed is, Seattle will probably have to go up to $20 million or more a season and that is scary.