Jets Might Be Forced To Trade Haason Reddick?

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler believes the Jets’ options regarding DE Haason Reddick are either to keep him on the reserve list until he reports or try to trade him closer to the deadline.

An NFC executive feels a trade is more likely at this point and is “not sure they have a choice.” Although the Jets gave up a third-round pick for him this offseason, the executive doesn’t expect New York to receive similar value, adding that “it would be hard for them to pay him at this point, and he clearly doesn’t want to be there.”

The executive also mentioned how difficult a trade could be if a team isn’t willing to give Reddick a new deal, noting that Falcons OLB Matt Judon‘s case was an outlier, as he was content playing without a new contract on a new team.

In our latest report regarding Reddick, Dianna Russini of The Athletic says that there has been communication between the player’s agency and the team. However, she’s told Reddick is operating with the “mindset that he will die on this sword.”

Reddick held out of training camp in search of a new deal or a raise on his current deal, which is set to pay him $14.25 million in base salary. Top pass rushers right now are making about double that in average annual salary.

Per Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic, Reddick incurred over $5 million in fines for his absences already including over $2 million for skipping training camp. He will also forfeit a game check of $791,666 for every game he sits out this year.

Reddick, 29, is a former first-round pick of the Cardinals out of Temple back in 2017. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $13.47 million fully guaranteed contract when the Cardinals opted to decline his fifth-year option worth $10,089,000 for the 2021 season.

Reddick was testing the open market as an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his NFL career when he signed a one-year deal with the Panthers worth up to $8 million. Philadelphia then signed him to a three-year, $45 million deal in March of 2021.

The Eagles then traded Reddick to the Jets in the final year of that deal for a conditional third-round pick in 2026.

In 2023, Reddick appeared in all 17 games and recorded 38 total tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, and one pass deflection. 

We’ll have more on the Jets and Reddick as the news is available.