Seahawks’ rebuild on defense continues, bringing back Jarran Reed. And they aren’t done

Jarran Reed, come back home.

The Seahawks want you in the middle of the overhaul to their defensive front.

Seattle is expected to announce in the next day or two it has signed back Reed, the defensive tackle the team drafted and had for five seasons through 2020, on a free-agent contract. The agreement first reported Tuesday by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero is for two years.

The deal is reportedly worth up to a maximum of $10.8 million.

Reed, 30, joins newly arriving Dre’Mont Jones from Denver and veteran captain Al Woods as the new-old centerpieces to the Seahawks’ rebuilt defensive line.

News of Reed’s agreement came a couple hours after Seattle announced it released veteran defensive linemen Shelby Harris and Quinton Jefferson. Those moves created $13.4 million in space under the 2023 NFL salary cap. That room is what will help pay for Jones (three years, $51 million, $10.2 million cap number this year) and now Reed.

The Seahawks aren’t done. They have the fifth overall choice in next month’s draft. They are in play to select Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson, Georgia tackle Jalen Carter or other top prospects for their defensive line. Seattle owns four of the first 52 choices in this draft.

The Seahawks remain in the market for inside linebackers — and remain interested in reuniting with six-time All-Pro and free agent Bobby Wagner.

Reed played the 2021 season for Kansas City and last season for Green Bay.

He had a career-high 10-1/2 sacks for Seattle in 2018, his third NFL season.

The following year, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider supported and stayed with Reed through his league suspension from the first six games of the 2019 season. That was following an incident of alleged domestic violence in suburban Bellevue. The commissioner’s suspension under the league’s personal-conduct policy came 20 months after prosecutors there declined to charge him and closed the case.

“I feel like he’s done a tremendous job of dealing with the situation, letting us know. We’ve known of this for a great deal of time now, and we’ve watched his maturity and his way of handling things,” Carroll said in July 2019, soon after Reed got suspended.

“I have no hesitation in supporting him going down the road.”

Before the 2020 season, the Seahawks re-signed Reed to a $23 million, two-year contract. It carried an untenable salary-cap charge, $13,975,000, for the second year. Schneider and the team wanted Reed to restructure his contract for 2021. Reed refused. He wanted a new contract and signing bonus beyond 2021, in exchange for making the team’s cap life easier that year.

The Seahawks tried to trade him. When that failed, Seattle released Reed in March 2021.

He signed with the Chiefs for the 2021 season, for $5.5 million. That was less than Seattle was offering him in its restructure plan to keep him that year.

After 2-1/2 sacks in 2021, Kansas City let his contract end. The Packers signed him. He played 17 games for Green Bay and again had 2-1/2 sacks last season, on a contract worth $3.25 million.