What Seattle Seahawks reworking Jarran Reed's deal really means

The Seattle Seahawks don't have much cap space. Unlike some national pundits who might suggest that Seattle needs to give up Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf to be under the cap, Seattle doesn't need to do much of anything in terms of making more cap room. An example of this is Seattle's reworking defensive tackle Jarran Reed's deal.

Before Reed's contract was torn up (that term was mostly to be dramatic; you'll see why in just a minute). the DT had a base salary of $3.96 million with incentives as much as $510,000. His cap hit was $6.34 million including a prorated bonus of $1.5 million. Reed just missed a big bonus in 2023 as he had 7 sacks and the bonus would have kicked in at 8 sacks.

The reworking of Reed's contract means he will have a bit more in potential bonuses. Before the rework, he had no money in per-game active roster bonus money. After the deal, he has $510,000 (or $30,000 a game). That number in parenthesis is important because Reed could make the bonus in games one through 17, for example, but in any game he is not made active he will not make the bonus money.

What does the Seahawks reworking Jarran Reed's deal mean?

This all could factor into the Seahawks' potential cap room. Should Reed not be active on game days, Seattle will save money. Not a lot of money, but some.

This is how Reed's contract now works:

Base salary before: $3.96 million
Base salary after: $3.98 million
Per game roster bonus before: $0
Per game roster bonus after: $30,000 per game with a maximum of $510,000

Here is the important part, though. Before the contract was reworked, Reed's cap hit was $6.34 million. After the rework, Reed's cap hit is $6.47 million. Reed missed one game in 2023 but he had not missed a game due to injury in a season since 2017 when he missed one (Reed was suspended for six games in 2019). He should be expected to stay healthy.

There is another important part, however. Reed carries no guaranteed money, other than his prorated $1.5 million signing bonus, into the 2024 season. The Seahawks could release him and save $4.97 million.

The bottom line is that Reed's cap hit only increases by $130,000 which is pretty much nothing. He could earn a bit more in 2024, but the player nor the team is greatly affected by the rework of the contract. Let's just hope he exceeds his 2023 numbers under the new defensive direction of Mike Macdonald.

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