As it turns out, the Seattle Seahawks needed to create cap room by trading quarterback Geno Smith, releasing Tyler Lockett, and a handful of others, just to make room for defensive tackle Jarran Reed. (Yes, that is a joke, but just barely.) Seattle had opened about $60 million in cap room, but a chunk of that appears to be going to Reed.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Seattle is re-signing the defensive tackle before he hits free agency this week. The deal, though, is for three years and up to $25 million. To be fair, the breakdown of those numbers is not yet known, and maybe a lot of it is incentive-based, so maybe when the details come out, the contract for the 32-year-old defensive lineman will not be as much as they seem on first glance.
Expecting Reed to still be playing at 35 and still having a positive impact might be asking too much, though. Possibly, the contract is front-loaded, but that only means he would have a decently sized cap hit. Still, Reed has been a fairly fantastic player in his Seahawks career, and he works well next to defensive lineman Leonard Williams.
Seattle Seahawks re-sign Jarran Reed to a three-year deal
Since returning in 2023, Reed has a combined 11.5 sacks, including seven in 2023. He is consistently productive as a pass rusher, though he isn't as great against the run. He does provide another veteran voice to a defensive line that will likely be younger in 2025 after the team released Roy Robertson-Harris and Dre'Mont Jones this offseason.
Seattle will probably continue to build through the draft, such as it did when the team chose Byron Murphy II in the first round in the 2024 NFL draft. Seattle is likely taking a chance that its defense under head coach Mike Macdonald will be good enough to get the team in a position to make the playoffs and hope whoever the new quarterback is will simply get the unit to score enough to win low-scoring games.
That happened in Russell Wilson's early years, and possibly, general manager John Schneider is hoping to replicate that formula and find a long-term quarterback in this year's draft.
Bringing Reed back was a smart move, but the number of years and the amount of the contract simply seems high. Or maybe Reed once again shows his value as a pass-rusher and earns every dollar.
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