Jarran Reed talks Seahawks return, rookie DL and much more

The Seattle Seahawks reunited with not one, but two former defensive stars this offseason.

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Perennial All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner, a future Hall of Famer, returning to Seattle obviously stole a lot of headlines, but the Seahawks also brought back defensive tackle Jarran Reed after he spent the last two seasons in Kansas City and Green Bay.

Reed, a 2016 second-round pick, spent the first five years of his career in Seattle, with his best season coming in 2018 when he had 10.5 sacks.

Now, Reed is back as part of a major offseason overhaul of the Seahawks’ defensive line.

“Man, it’s like a breath of fresh air,” Reed told Mike Salk during Friday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports. “I get to come back to where it all started and hopefully go chase one of these rings. That’s the dream, especially to win it where you started. But it’s a goal that I want to get to.”

When asked how he wound up back in the Pacific Northwest, Reed said “of course” he mentioned to his agent early in the offseason that he’d like to return to the Seahawks, and he knew Seattle and other teams needed help at defensive tackle.

“We were just weighing all our options. And of course out of all the options, Seahawks was first on my list,” he said. “It was kind of where I wanted to be and we were able to make it happen.”

So what did Reed learn while he was in Kansas City and Green Bay?

“That (Chiefs head coach) Andy Reid is one of the greatest coaches to ever coach this game and he’s old school, very old school,” he said. “And actually Green Bay was similar to here with what was being preached, the philosophies of the team, the meetings and just the competition.”

As for what he learned from Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll during his years in Seattle, Reed said “everything.”

“How to practice, how to practice fast, how to believe in yourself, how to compete, how to be relentless, how to never give up, how to always keep hope,” he said. “Because playing in games, sometimes playing in games you may think it’s going one way and you never know how it ends. You’ve always got to keep believing and you’ve got to keep competing. That is so true. You know, you got to keep on going because you never know what will happen at any moment, any down, any play, any game.”

Salk asked Reed what’s different about him now compared to when he left Seattle after the 2020 season.

“Leaving, I was still kind of young. So going to Kansas City, I had to learn a whole new style of coaching, a style of football from my position coaches and from the defense coordinator. It was all different. I had to learn a different way and I had to play the way they wanted me to play,” Reed said. “And taking that and going to Green Bay, I was kind of mixed back into what I was being taught beforehand. And so just meshing that all together and bringing that all together, I think coming here now I’m a better all-around player, the game has slowed down tremendously for me and I’m just trying to be the greatest I can be for the Seahawks and go out there and hopefully play my best.”

Reed’s thoughts on Seattle Seahawks rookies

The Seahawks made 10 picks in this year’s draft, and much like last year, the team’s draft class has drawn praise from various analysts. Count Reed as a fan based on what he’s seen so far.

“This group of guys I’ve seen, they’re ready to work. They listen, they don’t complain, they put their hard hats on and come out here everyday ready to work,” he said. “I actually like his group a lot because they’ve got some fire in them. And if you tell them something one time, they’re gonna go back and try to fix it. And you can tell they’re putting an emphasis on what we’re trying to coach them up on.”

Two of Seattle’s rookies will be playing alongside Reed in fourth-round nose tackle Cameron Young and fifth-round defensive end Mike Morris. Reed shared some thoughts on those two during the interview with Salk.

“I’m gonna make sure that I get in his ear and try to give him every piece of knowledge that I have to give him with everything that I learned,” Reed said of Young. “I don’t want to hold anything back. I want guys to be great. We all need those guys to step up this year and to play, and just I want to make sure he’s ready to go with whatever type of help he needs as far as hand placement or coming out his hip steps, whatever it may be like reading the offensive, seeing what’s going on, pre-snap keys, play recognition, those type things.”

With Morris, Reed said he thinks the Michigan product is “gonna be really good.”

“I like Mike a lot … You can tell he was well-coached coming out of college,” Reed said. “Everybody’s taught different in college and there’s so many different types of coaching staffs, but he’s coming in ready to play. I think he’s got a long way to go, but it’s real minimal what he has to do. His (growth) is going to be more mental than anything.”

Listen to the full interview with Reed at this link or in the player below.

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