SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks are expected to move on from starting defensive tackle Jarran Reed via either a trade or a release, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
And in another move on Thursday, defensive end Carlos Dunlap is re-signing with Seattle on a two-year deal worth $16.6 million that includes $8.5 million guaranteed, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told Schefter.
Reed signaled his apparent goodbye to the Seahawks on Thursday, writing on Twitter:
It’s been real 12s💙✌🏿 tomorrow at 1 it’s official … on to the next chapter
— jarran reed (@jarranreed) March 25, 2021
The 28-year-old Reed has one year and $8.5 million remaining on his contract, which is set to count $13.5 million against the cap. The Seahawks would save $8.5 million against the cap by trading or releasing Reed while incurring $5 million in dead money.
The Seahawks have to clear cap space to be cap compliant once the recent deals they’ve agreed to become official. They have only three picks in next month’s draft — a second-, a fourth- and a seventh-rounder — after trading a fifth-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for guard Gabe Jackson.
A second-round pick in 2016 out of Alabama, Reed was known as primarily a run-stuffer his first two seasons but then broke out for 10.5 sacks in 2018. He began the 2019 season by serving a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal-conduct policy and finished the year with two sacks in 10 games.
The Seahawks gave Reed a two-year, $23 million deal last March, betting that he could recapture his 2018 form. He had something of a bounce-back season with 6.5 sacks in 16 games.
The Seahawks re-signed Poona Ford to a two-year deal at the start of free agency. Ford has started the past two seasons alongside Reed. Seattle also has Bryan Mone, Cedrick Lattimore and Myles Adams as true defensive tackles on its roster.
Dunlap was released in early March by Seattle in a move that created $14.1 million in salary cap space. Seattle had acquired the defensive end in a trade with the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2020 season.
Dunlap, who turned 32 in February, spent his first 10-plus seasons with Cincinnati, which drafted him in the second round in 2010. His relationship with the team became strained as he grew frustrated with his role on defense last season, leading to the trade.
He finished last season with six sacks in 15 games between the two teams. Five of those sacks came in his nine games with the Seahawks.