With Jarran Reed suspended, Seahawks to sign DT Earl Mitchell. Now about that pass rush...
The Seahawks have started their roster reaction to Jarran Reed’s suspension.
Two days after the NFL suspended Reed for six games stemming from an alleged domestic assault, Seattle are signing veteran defensive tackle Earl Mitchell as training camp begins. That was according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network Wednesday afternoon.
Mitchell turns 32 in September. He is 6 feet 3, 310 pounds. He figures to help inside Seattle’s run defense that allowed an alarming 4.9 yards per rush in 2018, the worst mark of Pete Carroll’s decade as Seahawks coach.
Mitchell has 6 1/2 sacks in nine NFL seasons. He has one sack in his last four seasons, 31 games in 2018 and ‘17 with San Francisco and 21 games in 2015 and ‘16 with Miami. His first four years in the league were with Houston.
So Seattle’s pass-rush issues remain the team’s biggest problem entering training camp’s first practice Thursday morning.
Reed had a breakout season in 2018 with 10 1/2 sacks, Cortez Kennedy-like numbers for a Seahawks defensive tackle. But he won’t be playing until at least the week-seven game against Baltimore on Oct. 20. The league suspended Seattle’s leading returning pass rusher for six games, after a league investigation that covered 27 months since Reed’s incident with a 21-year-old woman in his home.
The Seahawks traded top sack man Frank Clark to Kansas City this offseason rather than pay him $20 million per year. They enter camp with just one available player on their 90-man offseason roster who has had as many as 5 1/2 sacks in any NFL season: Cassius Marsh, last season with the 49ers. Former Detriot Pro Bowl end Ziggy Ansah, Seattle’s prized offseason signing, is recovering from shoulder surgery and may not be on the field for his new team until deep into August, if then.
Tom Pelissaro of NFL Network reported Wednesday Ansah will be on the active roster to begin camp.
So the Seahawks likely aren’t done shopping for experienced help on the defensive line. Other teams will be releasing veteran players through the end of the preseason into September, usually to save salary-cap space. Expect Seattle to sign one before the games get real Sept. 8 against Cincinnati.
Mike Daniels, perhaps? Green Bay released its 2017 Pro Bowl defensive tackle on Wednesday, rather than pay him $8.1 million this year.
Daniels is now an attractive free agent available as camps begin. He missed just two games over his first five seasons in the league. But he missed the final six games of last season with a foot injury and did not participate in the Packers’ offseason workouts this spring into summer.
The Seahawks have money to spend on veteran free agents. They entered the week with $22.14 million in salary-cap space, according to overthecap.com. That was the 12th-best cap situation in the league for 2019.
This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 1:03 PM with the headline "With Jarran Reed suspended, Seahawks to sign DT Earl Mitchell. Now about that pass rush...."
