Reddick Traded

Haason Reddick should be a player the Eagles are building around. Instead, he’s gone. This has been a strange situation for the past couple of months. Reddick is clearly a good player. He seems like a good guy. But now he’s headed to the green team up north.

*if not, it’s a 2026 third-round pick.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 29, 2024

There are a few different angles to this. Let’s start with the compensation. Getting a conditional 2nd round pick is fine. In 2026? Not so much. That is an eternity in sports time. Howie Roseman is arguably the best trader in the league. He generally gets good compensation and pays fair prices. He knows value and is a good negotiator. If this is what he got, this is what was available.

Not ideal.

That brings us back to the subject of Reddick himself. He’s 29, but has four consecutive seasons of double-digit sacks. Reddick had 16 sacks and 5 FF in 2022 and was a huge part of the Eagles making it to the Super Bowl. So why were the Eagles willing to trade him and why was there such a poor market for him?

While Reddick is a productive pass rusher, he is erratic as a run defender. He loves to freelance. There were more than a few times last year when he failed to set the edge and RBs got out wide. Reddick would get into the wrong gap, hoping to make a play. Coaches need players to focus on the right gap so the other defenders know what to do.

Age is a factor. Reddick will turn 30 in September. He is still a gifted player, but teams do prefer younger players.

Most of all, this is about money. Reddick signed a 3-year, $45M deal with the Eagles in the 2022 offseason. He posted 27 sacks over the past two years and thinks he’s being underpaid. Reddick saw other guys getting more money and that obviously bothered him. Nick Bosa got $122.5M guaranteed in his new deal with SF. Reddick wanted more money and the Eagles weren’t going to give that to him.

Apparently, the Jets are willing to give him a new deal. That’s in the works so we’ll have to wait and see what he does get.

The Eagles could have refused to deal Reddick. They could have told him to play out his deal and then hit free agency next March. I’m guessing Reddick made it clear to the Eagles that he wasn’t going to be a happy camper. Howie and Nick Sirianni saw the problems the team had last year. There were times when players had personal agendas and that led to problems. The 2022 team was more close-knit and that helped them to win.

If the Eagles are going to get back to winning, they need everyone rowing in the same motion. Having a 30-year old star pass rusher who is disgruntled or frustrated wasn’t a good idea. That situation would get worse over time, not better.

There is also something odd about Reddick. The Cardinals let him leave after a 12.5 sack season in 2020. He signed a one-year deal with Carolina and had 11 sacks for them. That led to his signing with the Eagles. Three straight teams saw him post double-digit sacks and then let him walk. Teams see a good pass rusher. Reddick sees himself as a star, a special player. That puts a chip on his shoulder. That’s good when it fuels Reddick, but becomes an issue when it means he’s always going struggle to be happy.

The Eagles felt they had to make a move. They do have a good group of pass rushers in place.

RE – Josh Sweat – Nolan Smith

LE – Bryce Huff – Brandon Graham – Zach Baun

The Eagles are also checking out a lot of Edge prospects. Laiatu Latu, Chop Robinson and Marshawn Kneeland are all coming to Philly for Top 30 visits. Those guys will go in the 1st and 2nd rounds. Sweat and Graham will probably be gone after this year so the Eagles could invest in another young pass rusher.

It is funny that the Eagles and Jets essentially swapped Huff and Reddick. The Eagles got younger, the Jets older. I don’t understand why the Jets just didn’t pay Huff. They obviously see Reddick as more of a sure thing, but it still feels odd to me.

There is risk in this move to be sure. The Eagles are counting on Huff to become a good starter. They need Nolan Smith to take a big leap forward. They also need a bounce-back year from Sweat. Howie didn’t want to trade his star pass rusher, but he felt this was the best way to handle the situation. Reddick has a chance at a new deal and the Eagles move forward with younger pass rushers. And an extra pick…in 2026.

*****

The Eagles are making changes to their offseason program, including adding mandatory minicamp for the first time under Nick Sirianni.

They will have 7 OTAs (May 20, May 22-23, May 28, May 30-31) and three days of mandatory minicamp (June 4-6).

Last year, they had 6 total OTAs.

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) March 29, 2024

With new players, a new offense and a new defense, the Eagles need more practice time. I’m glad to hear about this.

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