Jarran Reed needs to show up for the Seahawks vs the Falcons

The Seahawks have high expectations for the new season. Jarran Reed needs to meet those expectations, starting in game one.

The season hasn’t even begun and here I am, already talking about a Seahawks player on the hot seat. Just shows you, it’s never too soon to make a fool of yourself – at least not for me. Obviously, my opinion isn’t based on his performance so far this year; I mean, we didn’t even get any preseason games. Instead, I’m looking at what Jarran Reed brought to the field up to this moment. It’s time for him to come through.

Due to the league’s questionable suspension of Reed last season, he didn’t get the best chance to prove he deserved that big contract he hoped for. And by questionable, I mean the NFL treats star players very differently from those that are merely very good. However, once he took the field, the man the Seahawks counted on to repeat his disruptive performance from 2018 was nowhere to be found. Here are his stat lines, prorated to 16 games, for the past two seasons:

2018: 10.5 sacks, 50 combined tackles, 12 tackles for loss,  24 QB hits.

2019:  3.2 sacks, 43 combined tackles, 0 tackles for loss, 12.8 QB hits.

I may be wrong, but the 2019 version of Reed doesn’t look like one of the league’s best interior linemen. I’d say at this point, he isn’t even the Seahawks best defensive lineman; I think that honor goes to Poona Ford. It isn’t those prorated three sacks that bother me about Reed; it’s the absolutely dreadful zero tackles for a loss that are the issue.

Jarran Reed week one

I pointed out after his huge 2018 performance that not even Cortez Kennedy was able to repeat his double-digit sack total. I didn’t expect Reed to match the sack totals, but I didn’t expect his performance to fall off a cliff, either.

I was afraid, though, that Jarran Reed’s 2018 was more aberration than a breakthrough. I don’t begrudge the man his money, not one bit. The fact remains, though, that even in the NFL, there’s only so much money to go around. He can earn the huge contract he wants this season – but I don’t think he will. I believe Reed is a solid player who had one great year, and that’s all. I’ll be very happy if he proves me wrong, but he needs to start versus the Falcons.