Moore: Why I think Seahawks’ Jarran Reed will have a bounceback season

Where are you with Jarran Reed? Glad the Seahawks re-signed him or not? Or maybe you’re fine with him returning but wonder why they paid him so much.

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That’s where I am. Based on a 2019 season in which Reed played in only 10 games because of a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, a league-minimum contract would have seemed more appropriate than the monster deal he got.

In 2019, Reed had only two sacks and no tackles for loss for a defensive line that lacked a consistent pass rush and ability to stop the run.

You can only assume that the Seahawks gave him a two-year, $23 million contract because they think he’ll be closer to the guy who recorded 10.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss in 2018 and nowhere near the no-show guy he was last year.

Come to find out it’s just a one-year commitment the Seahawks have made to Reed to the tune of $9.35 million. They can get out of the rest of the deal in 2021 if he doesn’t produce this year.

Would you be more surprised if he has a year like last year or the one in 2019? If I had to vote for one or the other, I’d be more surprised if he stinks it up than tears it up.

And I’m basing that on two things:

• 1) John Schneider paid him as much as he did, thinking he’s going to be the player he was two years ago. The Seahawks’ GM knows his players better than I do. He could certainly turn out to be wrong, but it’s a significant show of faith, enough to make me feel like he knows what he’s doing with Reed.

• 2) I liked what I heard from Reed Tuesday when he did a Zoom conference with reporters. Reed admitted he tried not to over-try last year, but it sounded like he wasn’t always successful with that. I get where he’s coming from. He missed six games and probably felt like he let his teammates down. So he came back and tried like mad to duplicate what he did in 16 games in 2018 in 10 games in 2019. And he was trying not to over-try after not having a training camp to get in football shape and no doubt playing catch-up the last two months of the year.

In baseball terms, I’m thinking he probably kept trying to hit eight-run homers and couldn’t even come up with a solo shot. Which is why he also said Wednesday: “I feel like I have unfinished business here. I’ve worked really hard, and I’m not gonna let these guys down.”

Plus Reed said he’s in much better shape than he was last year, another good sign.

So what you have is a talented player who has a chip on his shoulder with something to prove. I don’t know if he’ll be so good that he’ll warrant getting the rest of his contract in 2021, but redemption is a better bet than regression in 2020.

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