Seahawks Restructure Contracts with Jarran Reed and Dre’Mont Jones
The Seattle Seahawks have recently reworked the contracts of defensive linemen Jarran Reed and Dre’Mont Jones. Typically, such contract adjustments aim to reduce a player’s salary cap hit, but Reed’s case was an exception, with his cap number increasing from $6.34MM to $6.47MM.
Reed, 31, had one year and $4.47MM remaining on his contract, plus $900K in incentives. According to ESPN’s Brady Henderson, Seattle moved $530K of those incentives to the base salary and added $510K in per-game roster bonuses. Originally, the incentives were based on sacks and playing time, but now the remaining $370K are solely dependent on sacks—Reed earns $185K for eight sacks and the full $370K for ten sacks.
Henderson noted that this modification was meant to provide a small incentive for Reed, who played significant snaps last season and is seen as a key part of new head coach Mike Macdonald’s strategy. The performance of Ravens’ interior defender Justin Madubuike positively influenced the rest of Macdonald’s Baltimore defense. While Reed isn’t expected to match Madubuike’s 2023 performance, the Seahawks hope he will continue to boost their interior pass rush.
In contrast, the restructured deal for Jones provided substantial cap relief for the Seahawks, who were only $1.1MM under the cap after signing their rookie class. Jason Fitzgerald from OverTheCap.com explained that Seattle converted nearly $10MM of Jones’ 2024 base salary into a signing bonus and added two void years to the contract, incurring $4.9MM in cap charges. Consequently, Jones’ 2025 cap hit increased by about $2.5MM to $25.65MM, while his 2024 cap number decreased by $7.4MM, giving the team significant flexibility for the summer and the regular season.
Jones signed a three-year, $51MM contract with the Seahawks last March, making it the largest contract the team had ever given to an external free agent. Despite not playing poorly, Jones underperformed relative to expectations, ranking 55th among interior defenders by Pro Football Focus out of 130 qualifiers, behind Reed. Though primarily an interior lineman, Jones saw more edge play last season after Uchenna Nwosu’s season-ending pectoral injury in October.
Bob Condotta from the Seattle Times reported that Macdonald experimented with Jones at different positions during minicamp, having him line up with outside linebackers, edge rushers, and defensive tackles. Macdonald’s success with the Ravens stemmed from his ability to generate a strong pass rush with veterans like Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, and he aims to achieve similar results with Jones.
Macdonald commented on Jones’ versatility: “I think his skillset lends to trying to play a little matchup ball with him or setting another guy up. He can do a lot of things.”
Macdonald plans to rotate his defenders frequently, so the team is unlikely to reduce its roster of defensive linemen, which also includes first-round pick Byron Murphy II. With ample cap space, the Seahawks have no financial incentive to make such cuts.
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