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Seahawks defensive anchor Reed relishes role and making a living in trenches
Jarran Reed earns a living in the pit, the trenches of NFL combat, and this pleases the Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle to no end.
He is a football lifer, a 10th year veteran of interior clashes and scrums that often decide the winners and losers in a sport rooted in crunching contact. On Tuesday afternoon in San Jose, the 6-foot-3, 315-pound 33-year-old Reed beamed at what he has accomplished, and his journey to Super Bow LX on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. You can be sure he will have a say in how it all turns out against the New England Patriots.
A native of Goldsboro High School in North Carolina, Reed’s story is a familiar one in the Pacific Northwest. He has reveled at the chance to be a run-stuffer and quarterback chaser since he first slipped on shoulder pads and a helmet. He ground his way through East Mississippi Community College, shoring up his game and his academics, and he starred with the Alabama Crimson Tide on the defensive line.
A second-round draft pick by Seattle in 2016, Reed spent the 2021 season with the Kansas City Chiefs and the 2022 campaign with the Green Bay Packers. He re-signed with Seattle in 2023, signing a $12.8 million deal before having it extended in March to a 3-year package for $25 million.
All told, Reed has done his share of the heavy lifting in helping propel the Seahawks to the season’s final weekend in the franchise’s 50th year. And it isn’t just warding off blockers and plugging gaps that make Reed invaluable. He is a locker room leader who offers fiery pep talks as a veteran who has seen it all. Coach Mike Macdonald often has Reed address the team after games, anointing the veteran to mentor and inspire one of the NFL’s youngest teams.
Reed takes none of his path for granted, not in a sport where change is part of the business. Reed has been too good to supplant, and he said he wants to play several more seasons.
“Oh, not one bit (do I take this for granted),” Reed said. “Everybody’s journey is different. I’m very grateful for this, and it’s taught me a lot. Coming from Goldsboro, North Carolina to East Mississippi, then Alabama...all the roles were there to get me to this moment.”
Reed said the Seahawks immediately responded to Macdonald, the defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens in 2022 and 2023 who was hired as head coach by Seattle before the 2024 season.
“It started early with OTA’s, and we attack the day, attack the week,” Reed said. “Everybody needs to be tackled.”
Reed said he enjoys studying game film, be it the linemen he will encounter or the ball carriers the Seahawks are tasked to stop. He said that he is big on preparation, mind and body. He said that he thinks of NFL stars over the years who did not reach a Super Bowl.
“Some greats never made it, never got a chance to experience this,” Reed said. “Man, I’m here, Year 10. I got a national championship in junior college, and at Alabama, and now I’m here to see if we can pull it out in the Super Bowl this week.”
Reed has always been country strong and became stronger through strength and conditioning. He said that as long as he can overpower the guy in front of him, he will continue to play.
“I made a joke the other day in the weight room,” Reed said. “Now I got that grown-man strong, that dance strength.”
Reed said Seattle’s defense is united. That included arriving to the Super Bowl’s Opening Night media session as a unit in the same ride.
“One thing I said (Monday) is that Bus 3 is the defensive bus, like, nobody gets on Bus 3 but the defense. We’re just like brothers out there. We trust each other on the field. We know where each player is going to be on the field. We play off of each other, and that connection started outside the locker room.”
Reed added, “We hang together a lot, a real close-knit group.”
How does a man last this long in the pit? Money is a great motivator, to be certain, and so is the zest to compete.
“Just the love of the game,” Reed said. “And definitely everybody’s playing to get to the Super Bowl. Man, I love the game. It’s done a lot for me. I’ve been playing since I was a kid, five years old, and 33 now, and I’ve got a lot of football left.”
Reed said he had a sense he could make quite a living in this sport by the time he arrived at Alabama, among the college football programs that annually churn out NFL prospects.
“I figured that I could really make this thing work and make this a great life, a life goal, a life-changing experience,” Reed said.
Becoming a father was also a life-changing experience, Reed said. His oldest daughter, Jacey, was born shortly before he was drafted in 2016, when he would make FaceTime video calls with his infant girl who perked up at the sound of his voice.
Now 10 years old, Jacey doesn’t hesitate to climb over her father at home, even if his body aches from the rigors of a game. She has a sister who also jumps aboard Mount Papa. This isn’t trench warfare, not with the girls giggling and their father rolling on his back and side in preparation for a kid ambush.
“My daughters are amazing,” Reed said with a smile. “Look, I’m their jungle gym. They love crawling all over their dad. I really don’t mind. And it doesn’t stop them (if I’m sore or not).”
