The Haason Reddick Situation

 

Courtesy: Instagram @Haason7Reddick

        Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog about the New York Jets. My name is Andrew Barbieri and I am a senior at Salisbury University, covering the news about the Jets for my sports communications class. I will be posting bi-weekly about Gang Green throughout the 2024 season.

    The New York Jets were utterly dominated by a Christian McCaffrey-less San Francisco 49ers offense on Monday night to open up the 2024 season, losing 32-19. 

    

    There were some key departures for the Jets in the offseason. Pass rusher Bryce Huff signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and interior lineman John Franklin-Myers was traded to the Denver Broncos to free up cap space. While at the surface managing to sack Brock Purdy three times looks good for the Jets' defense, they gave Purdy a clean pocket almost all night to pick apart New York's secondary. Backup running back Jordan Mason also gashed the defense for 147 yards and a touchdown in a spot start with McCaffrey dealing with Achilles tendonitis.

    So it must be asked, what did GM Joe Douglas do to address the departures on defense? Douglas acquired pass rusher Haason Reddick from Philly on April 1st for a 3rd round pick. Reddick has since held out and wants a contract extension as he is set to become a free agent after this season. For a lifelong Jets fan, the drama of Reddick not reporting to his new team since being traded doesn't even shock me. I would have used a game-action photo of Reddick as the image but he has not worn a Jet uniform yet five months after the trade. To try to get him on the field, Douglas has been playing hardball towards Reddick and wants to get a deal done by not entertaining Reddick's trade request during the negotiation process. It should noted that if Reddick does not play at all this season, the Jets will retain his rights and be able to franchise-tag him to keep him in New York.

    With the roster makeup the Jets have, they are in win-now mode. They need to have all of their firepower on the field though. By losing Huff and currently not having his replacement available you could tell that the defense was not the same defense that needed simply an average offense to make the playoffs.

    

    In my eyes, this clearly hurts all parties involved. The Jets are a worse team without him and Reddick is now forfeting his game checks every week. Could it be time to trade Reddick? Possibly but draft compensation won't help the Jets in the present with a 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers under center with his time in the NFL numbered. Douglas needs to bring Reddick and his agent in and get a deal done. I say that like it's easy but from a fan's perspective you can't waste any more time when talking about someone in Reddick who has had double-digit sacks in his past four seasons. 

    Discuss below: Would you try to trade Reddick and cut your losses or try to give him the extension he wants?