Seahawks DT Jarran Reed owes a thank you to Grady Jarrett of the Falcons

With the days until the Seattle Seahawks open training camp having reached single digits, the overwhelming majority of the offseason is in the books. Long gone are free agency, the draft and the offseason workout program. As such, this time of year there are basically three types of news that can come out regarding a player: a suspension, a contract extension or reports of some sort of offseason injury.

Many Seahawks fans are hoping for one of these types of reports, an announcement of a contract extension, for one of a handful of players who are extension eligible. At the top of that list is obviously All Pro middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, who is acting as his own agent and stated that he is looking to be the highest paid off ball linebacker in the NFL earlier this summer. Then there’s a second member of the defense who is extension eligible and who could command a pretty penny following a 10.5 sack performance during 2018, and that’s defensive tackle Jarran Reed.

How much Reed could command has been up for debate amongst fans, and on Monday the Atlanta Falcons and Grady Jarrett helped set the market for Reed.

Just to illustrate how similar Jarrett and Reed are as defensive tackles, here are their respective career stats. Jarrett has an extra season in the NFL compared to Reed, so in addition to their respective cumulative stats, I’ve added in the stats for each averaged out per 600 snaps played. This number was chosen because both have averaged right around 600 snaps per year, with Jarrett averaging 600.5 snaps per season and Reed coming in at 622 snaps per season.

So, taking a look at those numbers, with Jarrett getting a four year contract that averages $17M per year, it’s not hard to create a projection in that ballpark for Reed.

Now, if Reed wishes to bet on himself and head to free agency after playing out the 2019 season on the final year of his rookie contract, that is certainly a possibility. Under the franchise tag Reed would likely stand to make around $16M, as the tag number for 2019 is $15.209M and can be expected to see a small increase in 2020. However, that only gains one extra year under contract, and if the Seahawks see Reed as a potential long term fixture on the defensive line, it’s possible they could extend him at a higher number.

In any case, this time last year fans were debating how much the Hawks would pay Frank Clark on an extension, but that’s no longer an issue. However, if the team and fans pushed back at the idea of paying Clark $18M or more, what is in store for Reed if he demands that much on an extension?