Seahawks 90-Man Countdown: DT Jarran Reed - Homecoming Resurgence?

Returning to his former stomping grounds for a second stint, the Seattle Seahawks will be banking on Jarran Reed having plenty of juice left in the tank to help a new-look defensive line that struggled mightily a year ago.

Author:
Corbin K. Smith
Publish date:
Jul 10, 2023 11:30 AM EDT

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Seattle Seahawks

With the calendar flipping to July and offseason activities in the rearview mirror, the Seattle Seahawks will open training camp at the VMAC later this month, officially ushering in the 2023 season.

To celebrate the new incoming season, we'll be detailing every member of the Seahawks 90-man roster over the next several weeks, exploring best and worst case scenarios and what to expect from each player entering the 2023 campaign.

Jarran Reed, Defensive Tackle

Height/Weight: 6-3, 306 pounds

2022 Stats: 52 tackles, 2.5 sacks

Originally beginning his NFL career with the Seahawks as a second-round pick out of Alabama, Reed came from the college ranks with a reputation as an early down run stuffing defensive tackle. However, after registering only 1.5 sacks in each of his first two seasons in the Pacific Northwest, he broke out with a spectacular 10.5-sack campaign in 2018, joining Hall of Famers Cortez Kennedy and John Randle as the only defensive tackles in franchise history to achieve the feat. While he didn't come close to hitting that total again, he did produce 6.5 sacks in 2020 for the eventual NFC West champions before being released the following March in a cap-related maneuver.

Following his departure, Reed played for the Chiefs in 2021 and spent last season with the Packers, starting 31 out of 34 games with 95 combined tackles, five sacks, and 26 quarterback hits. Hitting the free agent market again, with the Seahawks desperate for experienced reinforcements along the defensive line, the North Carolina native brought his career full circle by re-signing with the team on a two-year deal with hopes of helping them make a deeper playoff run in 2023.

Best-Case Scenario: Rejuvenated playing for a contender with a familiar coaching staff after a tough season by his standards for a floundering Green Bay squad, Reed starts all 17 games alongside newcomer Dre'Mont Jones and rookie nose tackle Cameron Young, producing 5.5 sacks and 18 quarterback hits while playing stout run defense to help Seattle re-emerge as a top-10 scoring defense.

Worst-Case Scenario: Already showing signs of slowing down during his brief stints with the Chiefs and Packers, Reed struggles at the start of the season in the starting lineup and doesn't add much punch to the Seahawks' interior pass rush, eventually losing his starting job to fellow veteran Mario Edwards and losing more snaps to upstart rookie Mike Morris as the year progresses.

What to Expect in 2023: Compared to his best seasons in Seattle, Reed wasn't quite as productive in his two seasons away from the Pacific Northwest, failing to consistently make the impact plays behind the line of scrimmage as a run defender and pass rusher he did in his first five seasons. But digging deeper into his statistics, while he didn't have the raw sack and tackle for loss numbers in Kansas City or Green Bay and seemed to get pushed around more often than in the past, he still surpassed 30 quarterback pressures and finished in the top 25 among defensive tackles in run stops each season.

Joining a rising young Seahawks squad led by Pete Carroll and Clint Hurtt, two coaches he had great success playing for earlier in his career, the 30-year old Reed could be poised for a bit of a resurgence. Even if he isn't quite as disruptive as he was in his first stint, if he can round back into form as a tough, physical run defender while chipping in with a handful of sacks and mentoring youngsters such as Young and Morris, his return with plenty of fuel left in the tank would be a major boon for a defensive front that vastly underachieved last season.

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