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).”

Sunday, the Patriots and Seahawks will play Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. New England earned the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff picture, then defeated the Chargers, Texans and Broncos en route to a conference title. Seattle earned a bye after finishing the regular season 14-3, then took care of business against the 49ers and Rams at home to punch their ticket to the big game. This will be the first time in 12 years that the Seahawks will be in the Super Bowl – the last time, of course, being the infamous Malcolm Butler game.

Kickoff this weekend is set for 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC and Peacock.

If looking for a fun way to sweat Sunday’s NFL season finale, I have put together a three-leg same game parlay (+460) for Super Bowl 60. As always, it is worth noting that straight wagers are a far more profitable long-term betting strategy than parlays. Still, parlays can be a fun way to get some extra action on a game to make things interesting!

Check this one out, or visit our Same-Game Parlay Tool to build one for yourself.

New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks Same Game Parlay

Leg 1: Sam Darnold Under 0.5 Interceptions

(+103)

Sam Darnold has quietly put together a very strong month of football. In his last 3 games, he has committed only 1 turnover-worthy throw on 79 pass attempts (1.2%). A large part of his success has been how open his receivers have been, with offensive coordinator Klint Hubiak doing a masterful job scheming open the team’s pass-catchers.

New England’s defense has recorded 5 interceptions and 8 total takeaways in three playoff games – numbers that are likely due for some negative regression, as turnovers are often more noisy than they appear on the surface. At plus-money, this is a worthwhile inclusion in a Super Bowl SGP.

Leg 2: Kenneth Walker III Over 73.5 Rushing Yards

(-110)

Kenneth Walker III struggled with his efficiency in the NFC Championship Game against the Rams, collecting only 62 rushing yards on 19 attempts. More importantly, however, he was clearly the team’s preferred option on the ground.

Walker received 19 of the team’s 22 carries that went to the running back position, including all 3 red zone opportunities and the team’s only goal line rush attempt. Even with his struggles against the Rams, he was still far and away more efficient than backup RB George Holani.

Expect Walker to get fed in the Super Bowl. If he sees close to 20 rush attempts again, it’s going to be difficult for the Patriots to keep him under this number.

Leg 3: Drake Maye Under 37.5 Rushing Yards

(-115)

Seattle’s zone defense doesn’t exactly discourage opposing quarterbacks from running, but the unit tends to do a pretty good job wrapping up quarterbacks before they can scramble for big gains. Their zone-heavy approach means that they tend to always have at least a couple sets of eyes on the quarterback. This typically leads to fewer wide open running lanes for quarterbacks compared to teams that have their defenders’ backs turned in man coverage.

The Seahawks should be able to contain Maye’s scramble attempts relatively well in this matchup. Our FTN model loves this play, too, showing an 8.95% edge to the under.

The Seattle Seahawks brought aboard a key contributor prior to their matchup with the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX.

Seattle, just days away from the biggest game of the season, announced that the activation of linebacker Chazz Surratt from injured reserve and placement of offensive lineman Amari Kight on injured reserve Tuesday.

Surratt, 28, signed with the organization before the start of the season, and appeared in 11 games prior to suffering an ankle injury that landed him on injured reserve on Nov. 26. Surratt played only seven snaps on defense, but was mainstay on special teams and is expected to immediately return to the lineup on Sunday,

Kight, 25, signed as an undrafted free agent after the 2025 NFL Draft, and spent most of the season on the practice squad before being promoted to the active roster late in the season — appearing in four games.

How will this impact the game?

Surratt appeared in 60% of his club’s special teams snaps and finished second on the team in special teams tackles (11) behind fullback/tight end Brady Russell (14).

The Patriots and Seahawks will do battle on Sunday, with kickoff for the big game at Levi’s Stadium scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.

In last Monday’s episode of “The Ryen Russillo Show,” Russillo broke down the upcoming Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.

Russillo, who previously lived in Boston and went to college in Vermont, is amazed by how quickly the Patriots have turned things around after back-to-back four-win seasons.

“The Patriots ahead of schedule. I cannot believe they’re in the Super Bowl, like so many other people,” Russillo said. “I just can’t believe where this team was at the end of the Belichick run, the Mayo year…I really was surprised. I mean, it was bad…And here they are. They’re in the Super Bowl.”

New England took a lot of people by surprise this season, including Russillo.

While the Patriots benefited from a historically easy schedule during the regular season, they now face a superior Seattle Seahawks team in the Super Bowl. New England is clearly less talented than the Seahawks and is listed as a significant underdog this week.

As an exercise, Russillo said he looked at the top 30 players in this year’s Super Bowl. He guesses roughly 18 to 20 are on Seattle, while 10 to 12 play for New England.

That’s a pretty significant gap, and it may decide the game.

“It’s gonna be tough for me to ignore that when I’m picking the Super Bowl,” Russillo added.

The Seahawks are the better team on paper, but the better team doesn’t always win. Just ask the 2007, 2011 and 2017 Patriots, all of whom lost to inferior teams.

Talent helps, but anything can happen.

Last week, the shocking news came out that former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was not elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After falling one vote shy of induction, he’ll have to wait at least one more year.

Many who follow football were stunned that 11 people didn’t vote for Belichick, who’s arguably the greatest coach in NFL history. After all, he led the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six wins while engineering an iconic dynasty that spanned two full decades.

And yet, that apparently wasn’t enough for some voters.

While Belichick’s omission was stunning to many and heavily criticized, one person who claims he wasn’t too surprised is Colin Cowherd.

On Monday’s episode of “The Herd,” he explained why.

Cowherd noted Belichick’s lack of success without Tom Brady, which is well-documented. Belichick struggled both before and after Brady, suggesting he benefited more from Brady than Brady did from him.

“I’m not that surprised that Belichick didn’t get in…Disaster pre-Brady in New England. Disaster, Brady leaves, in New England. Disaster in college,” Cowherd said. “His ability to draft — awful. The more control he had, the worse it was…I think he’ll get in, but it wasn’t a shock…I get it.”

Cowherd also cited Belichick’s multiple cheating scandals, questionable management decisions and abrasive personality as contributing factors to his Hall of Fame miss.

Cowherd’s right that Belichick’s career wasn’t perfect. Nobody’s is. However, it was certainly Hall of Fame worthy, and no amount of nitpicking can justify his omission.

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye took a moment to recognize someone very important during Super Bowl Opening Night on Monday.

Ann Michael Maye.

Ann Michael has become more recognizable than most of her husband’s teammates this season, with her “bakemas” series gaining traction on TikTok and her infectious personality gaining her fans all across New England.

Drake was asked what having her in his life has meant, and for lack of a better term, gave his wife her flowers.

“Getting married is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life,” Maye said, per MassLive’s Chris Mason. “… What a blessing it is to have Ann Michael, and to have someone to come home to who cares about my day and gives me something to hear outside of football. I listen to what she’s done today, and every day I have a constant in my life and that’s my wife.

“Every day she’s herself, and she cared about me for who I am off the field… She’s the boss, but at the same time she’s been awesome to me.”

The Patriots will hope their quarterback can make his wife proud in Super Bowl LX on Sunday, with kickoff against the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.