Packers Sign Veteran DT Jarran Reed

The Green Bay Packers filled a key weakness by signing former second-round pick Jarran Reed.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers took care of a big need by signing a big man on Tuesday.

According to a source, veteran defensive tackle Jarran Reed completed a free-agent visit to Green Bay by signing a one-year deal.

Reed confirmed the signing on Twitter.

“So thankful for the opportunity to continue my career in Green Bay,” he said.

Let’s gooooo #GoPackGo so thankful for the opportunity to continue my career in Greenbay

— jarran reed (@jarranreed) March 22, 2022

Reed was linked to the Packers in the 2016 NFL Draft but went to the Seattle Seahawks at No. 49 of the second round – one pick after Green Bay took offensive tackle Jason Spriggs.

The 29-year-old Reed’s career consists of one fantastic season. In 2018, he had 10.5 sacks, 12 tackles for losses and 24 quarterback hits.

Reed had only two sacks and zero tackles for losses in 2019, when he missed six games due to a suspension. He bounced back with 6.5 sacks and five tackles for losses in 2020, then slid back to 2.5 sacks and two tackles for losses in 2021, his one and only season with Kansas City. Of 75 qualifying defensive linemen, Reed last season finished 64th among interior defenders in pass-rush win rate, worst among this year’s free agents (minimum 250 pass rushes), but a decent 33rd in run-stop percentage, according to Pro Football Focus.

He did start all 33 games the past two seasons. He has been a workhorse throughout his career. He played 78 percent of the defensive snaps in 2018, 70 percent in 2019 and 74 percent in 2020 before playing “only” 64 percent in 2021. Those are higher totals than Dean Lowry, by way of comparison.

The Packers had a major need for defensive line help, so signing Reed not only adds an immediate contributor but reduces the pressure for general manager Brian Gutekunst to make a move early in the draft.

The move got the immediate approval of Pro Bowler Kenny Clark.

Shout out Gute & nem 😂🤝 DL gone be crazy

— Kenny Clark (@KCBoutThatLife) March 22, 2022

Clark is the leader of the group by word and deed. But the depth chart is thinner than today’s newspaper. There aren’t even enough players to take into the regular season, let alone compete in training camp.

Lowry will join Clark for a seventh consecutive season. TJ Slaton, a fifth-round pick last year, showed some promise as a rookie. Jack Heflin made the roster as an undrafted rookie but played merely 17 snaps and was passed on the depth chart by Abdullah Anderson, a practice squad player who was not re-signed.

And that’s it. With Tyler Lancaster unsigned in free agency and Kingsley Keke released in January, the Packers had just four defensive linemen under contract. Clark, Lowry, Reed and Slaton give the Packers the potential of a formidable quartet.

The Packers for years have featured the Aaron Rodgers-led offense. Other than Rodgers’ contract extension, the Packers’ only major transactions have been on the defense: a contract extension for outside linebacker Preston Smith, re-signings of inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell and cornerback Rasul Douglas, and now the addition of Reed.

At Alabama, Reed earned all-SEC accolades in 2014 and 2015, including second-team honors as a senior, when he recorded 57 tackles, including one sack and 4.5 tackles for losses. Reed was an anchor for a defense that ranked No. 1 against the run entering the playoffs.

Reed is 6-foot-3 and 313 pounds. Reed was born big. At birth, he was 10 pounds, 7 ounces. He’s always been a prodigy, too. He skipped crawling and started walking at 7 1/2 months old.

“I knew then something would come from that,” his mom, Anjanette, told AL.com. “I believe that was the beginning of what we have now in him being an athlete.”

Reed was a linebacker in high school before moving to the defensive line at Hargrave Military College. From there, it was to East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Miss. It was a trying time for Reed, and he almost gave up football to return home.

“He had to go the way he's gone to make him the type of person he is now," Anjanette said. “Sometimes when things are given to you, you don't appreciate them quite as much. The fact he's had to work for everything he has done to get to where he's at, he's appreciated that road he's had to travel.”

Jim Nagy, now the executive director of the Senior Bowl but a scout with the Seahawks when Reed was drafted, said Reed was “the alpha dog” of the powerhouse Crimson Tide. Expected to be a first-round pick, he was one of 25 players invited to Chicago for the draft.

Instead, he lasted into the middle of Round 2.

“It was a stress reliever,’’ he said of being drafted. “It was a very emotional time.”

Said Alabama coach Nick Saban after the draft: “I think they got a steal to be honest with you because I really felt like (Reed) was a first-round guy. Because I do think he’s an every-down player. The guy can play the run, he’s athletic, he’s a really, really good competitor and I do believe that he can pass rush enough, and continue to develop his pass rush ability, to be a good inside rush guy. I think they got an outstanding player.”