Seahawks bringing back DT Jarran Reed on 2-year deal, with a huge raise: “Seattle is home”
The Seahawks stuck by Jarran Reed through his suspension last season.
He stuck by them Monday night.
The defensive tackle who had 10 1/2 sacks two seasons ago—and wore a Jimi Hendrix shirt on locker clean-out day in January to show his love for Seattle—agreed to a two-year contract worth up to $23 million with the Seahawks instead of going to free agency. The contracts terms are according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Reed confirmed the deal on Twitter Monday night, writing: “Seattle is home #UnfinishedBusiness”
The Seahawks made the re-signing official later Monday night, confirming it is a two-year deal.
Reed, who turned 27 in December, goes from $723,000 in base pay last season to averaging $11.5 million the next two years.
“I’ve been here four years. Consider this home,” the team’s second-round draft choice out of Alabama in 2016 said in January, a day after Seattle’s playoff loss at Green Bay.
“Everything will take care of itself.”
The Seahawks stood with Reed through a two-year process of him being accused of domestic assault by a 21-year-old woman at his Bellevue home. Last summer, the NFL suspended him for the first six games of the 2019 season after its investigation of the alleged incident.
Ultimately, Reed was not charged nor arrested. Prosecutors in Bellevue declined to pursue the domestic-violence case.
But NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has wide authority to suspend players for conduct outside of football, including for incidents that do not result in charges or arrests. Many players and others criticize Goodell and the league for their investigations and inconsistent enforcement of the personal conduct policy.
Reed included in an apology to those close to him, his family, the Seahawks and their fans upon his suspension in July that “I totally disagree with the decision of the NFL.”
Two months ago, Reed said the support he got from the Seahawks from the time of the alleged incident in 2017 through the suspension and his return to the team in October indicated to him he’s wanted by the franchise for 2020 and beyond.
“Oh, tremendously. I definitely think so,” Reed said. “They’ve had my back the whole time. They’ve been right behind me. I am grateful for that, and I am thankful for that, too.
His return helps address what coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have said is the Seahawks’ top offseason priority: improving the pass rush.
The team is still trying to re-sign defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, too.
Carroll has said the suspension set Reed back in 2019 and was the largest reason the tackle had just two sacks in 10 regular-season games upon his return. Last season he was not playing next to top rush end Frank Clark; Seattle traded Clark to Kansas City last spring in the middle of an impasse over a longer-term contract.
Reed’s 10 1/2 sacks in 2018 while rushing with Clark were 7 1/2 more than he had in his first two NFL seasons with the Seahawks combined.
The Seahawks obviously don’t see Reed’s 2018 as a one-year, out-of-nowhere aberration.
“No, I’m not going that way. I’m not going that way, at all,” Carroll said.
“When you go back and watch his film that we’ve been through, his stuff already, and watch all the attempts at making sacks and the opportunities that were there, right in front of him, you know, he had six, probably five or six plays were he could have made a clean sack and it got away from him for one reason or another. That changes everything.
“He missed six games. He could have had five or six sacks anyway, easily. So I do think that he’ll benefit as we pick up our pressure on the outside; I thought our outside guys could have done more so. He’ll benefit from that.
“We’d love to have him back with us, and all that—with the expectation that that (2018 sack) year is within his reach.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Seahawks bringing back DT Jarran Reed on 2-year deal, with a huge raise: “Seattle is home”."
