Jarran Reed is presumably finding his happy place again. That was once with the Seattle Seahawks, but when they approached him with a restructure instead of the long-term deal he wanted, the 28-year-old wanted a divorce. As such, he and the Seahawks parted ways and Reed went on to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs on a one-year deal worth $5 million. Although he can boost it with $2 million in incentives, the ceiling for it is still $1.5 million less than what he might've earned in 2021 had he stayed put -- an indication of just how done he was with the Seahawks.
And as he readies to suit up for the Chiefs, he has but one mission in mind.
"I'm here to relieve some of those double teams [for defensive tackle Chris Jones]," he said, via ESPN. "The goal is to come in and wreak havoc. We're here and we're ready to unleash."
That's certainly what head coach Andy Reid is hoping for, and newly signed center Austin Blythe -- the former Los Angeles Rams offensive lineman having played against Reed often in the NFC West -- believes wholeheartedly the Chiefs made the right call.
"Jarran's just a complete player," Blythe said. "He can rush the passer, he can stop the run and he's pretty athletic doing both of those things, so I'm excited to be able to team up with him."
And, for his part, Reed says he'll take everything he learned from his time in Seattle and deploy it in Kansas City.
"I challenged myself in practice every day," he added. "My coach, [Seahawks assistant head coach and defensive line coach] Clint Hurtt, challenged me as well every day to just continue to get better. I watched Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, those type of guys who excelled in the pass-rush game and I took some bits and pieces and worked every day in practice and just continued to work to get better, and it started paying off for me on the football field."
Reed joins the Chiefs with 63 NFL starts under his belt, along with 22 sacks and 194 combined tackles. His presence on the defensive interior should provide an instant upgrade at a position of need for the Chiefs, who had a lot of trouble getting their hands on Tom Brady in their Super Bowl beatdown at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in February.