New York Jets News & Rumors

Aaron Rodgers‘ surprise — to most — no-show for Jets minicamp has generated more attention this week, but Haason Reddick‘s situation qualifies as the more newsworthy story. Unlike Rodgers, Reddick did not show for the entirety of New York’s offseason program.

Seeking a new contract since the end of his Eagles run, Reddick stayed away from OTAs and this week’s minicamp. The sides do not appear on the same page regarding the team’s plan, which may well be to let the trade acquisition play out his contract and reassess after the season. Given Reddick’s age (30 in September), it is not too surprising he is attempting to force the issue in a contract year.

The Jets indeed look to prefer waiting on a Reddick extension, per ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini, but the veteran reporter adds the team has not ruled out the prospect of a new deal for the recently acquired edge rusher. Although the Jets remain confident Reddick will resurface and enjoy a productive season, this is certainly not a good start to the relationship.

Teams who trade for impact players disgruntled with their contracts often have new deals ready. That makes this Jets situation tricky, especially as the Eagles signed four-year Jet contributor Bryce Huff to replace Reddick weeks before the trade was finalized. The Eagles also reached a resolution with Josh Sweat, effectively ensuring Reddick would be traded. New York sent Philadelphia a third-round pick for Reddick in late March, but he and Robert Saleh had not spoken until this past weekend. Saleh confirmed (via Cimini) he reached out to the eighth-year vet.

Upon agreeing to take on Reddick’s three-year, $45MM contract, GM Joe Douglas deemed John Franklin-Myers as too expensive to retain. The Jets sent the dependable D-lineman to the Broncos, who then reworked his deal. (Franklin-Myers turned down a Jets pay-cut proposal, one that did not approach the numbers he is now tied to in Denver.)

Reddick has shown a much higher ceiling by comparison, stringing together four straight double-digit sack seasons — with three different teams — after being miscast as an off-ball linebacker early in his career. Reddick proved his legitimacy in Philly, spearheading a dominant 2022 pass rush en route to Super Bowl LVII, but has seen his $15MM-AAV deal become an upper-middle-class (at best) edge rusher accord. After the Huff, Danielle Hunter, Jonathan Greenard, Brian Burns and Josh Allen accords were finalized this offseason, Reddick’s deal has fallen into a tie for 19th among edge defenders.

Reddick’s 50.5 sacks since 2020 rank fourth in the NFL. The former first-round pick agreed to the Eagles deal ahead of his sixth season, however, as it took him some time to prove his 2020 Cardinals contract year was not fluky. This timeline may be costing the Temple alum here, with Cimini adding Douglas generally prefers not to extend players 29 and older or those acquired via trade. Reddick checks both boxes, adding another complication to this offseason saga.

After deploying Huff as a pass-rushing specialist, the Jets are expecting Reddick to play an every-down role. Unless Reddick wants to rack up $50K-per-day fines in training camp, he will report for his new team’s workouts next month. It will be interesting, then, to see if the trade pickup opts for the increasingly popular hold-in strategy — even though it is unclear if the team is planning any contract talks — come July.

The Jets-Haason Reddick partnership has certainly featured a rocky start. The recent trade acquisition has not shown for the team’s offseason program, and after Robert Saleh said he expected the veteran edge rusher at minicamp, Tuesday brought an unexcused absence from the mandatory workouts.

It is not surprising to see Reddick test his new team, seeing as his below-market contract led to the separation from the Eagles, but the Jets look to have seen the former first-round pick change his stance as the offseason progressed.

Reddick, who will turn 30 in September, is in the final season of a three-year, $45MM contract. After what is believed to have been a productive spring visit before the trade came to pass, the parties do not appear on the same page regarding this issue. A previous Jets-Reddick meeting, however, suggested they were.

The Jets had communicated to the former Cardinals, Panthers and Eagles sack artist they would not extend him this year, according to SNY’s Connor Hughes, with the sides believed to be in agreement Reddick would play out his deal and see about receiving his money from the Jets — or another team — in 2025. Reddick was believed to be on board with the plan, per Hughes, who notes the former Super Bowl starter had told Jets staffers he would attend both OTAs and minicamp. It appears the parties are no longer in lockstep on a plan.

While the Jets communicated to Reddick adjustments could be made to his current contract — potentially via incentives — Hughes adds they indicated no extension was coming this year. This is an interesting stance for the team, which gave up a third-round pick for the Pro Bowler, as it has two rookie-contract edge players (Jermaine Johnson, Will McDonald) and traded its other veteran piece (John Franklin-Myers) in an April salary dump.

It is understandable why Reddick would opt to force the issue; his contract is out of step with his production, which now includes four straight double-digit sack seasons. His dominant 2022 showing (19.5 total sacks, 3.5 coming in the playoffs) helped the Eagles to Super Bowl LVII and had them on the cusp of breaking the 1984 Bears’ single-season sack record. Reddick did not fare quite as well last season, but he still totaled 11 sacks. He has also seen his contract — already a below-market deal upon signing — further shift toward a team-friendly classification. Offseason extensions for Brian Burns and Josh Allen have bumped Reddick down to the NFL’s 19th-highest-paid edge defender.

Reddick is both subject to a $104K fine by skipping minicamp, and he forfeited a $250K workout bonus as well. The eighth-year vet could force the issue by continuing his holdout into training camp, but teams must fine non-rookie-contract players $50K per day for each training camp workout missed. That has largely removed holdouts from the equation, though Chris Jones and Zack Martin both succeeded — Martin via an immediate agreement, Jones via a monster 2024 payday — after holding out. A Reddick hold-in effort could be the next step here.

The Jets effectively swapped out Bryce Huff for Reddick, with the younger player now with the Eagles on a three-year, $51.1MM deal to place the four-year Jet among the handful of edge rushers now paid more than Reddick.

It would look odd if the Jets turned around and paid Reddick a market-value contract, seeing as Huff is four years younger. Though, the Jets are planning a three-down role for Reddick after having used Huff as a designated pass rusher of sorts. Reddick may well attempt to use the Jets’ plan against them; training camp represents the next stage of this developing saga.

JUNE 4: When speaking to the media on Tuesday, Jets head coach Robert Saleh confirmed Reddick has been absent from the team throughout the offseason (video link via SNY’s Connor Hughes). Saleh has yet to be in contact with the two-time Pro Bowler, though he added he expects Reddick to attend next week’s mandatory minicamp. Missing out on OTAs will cost Reddick a $250K workout bonus, Cimini notes.

JUNE 2: One of the newest members of the Jets’ roster, edge defender Haason Reddick, has not been present for the club’s two OTA sessions that have been open to the media, as Rich Cimini of ESPN.com observes. Presumably, Reddick has not participated in any of New York’s six OTAs to date.

Of course, those sessions are voluntary, though players often stay away in order to drive home the point that they are seeking a new contract. That could certainly be the case with Reddick, who was acquired via trade with the Eagles earlier this year and who is entering the final season of the three-year, $45MM contract he signed with Philadelphia in March 2022.

Reddick’s $14.5MM base salary for the upcoming campaign is non-guaranteed, and while he made it clear that he did not request a trade from the Eagles and hoped to remain with the club, the fact that he is underpaid relative to his market value and will be the beneficiary of a lucrative new deal in the near future certainly drove GM Howie Roseman‘s decision to move the accomplished sack artist.

Obviously, extension talks between Reddick and Philadelphia were unsuccessful. And while it was speculated that Reddick and the Jets would discuss a new contract upon his arrival, Cimini says that if negotiations have indeed taken place, nothing to that effect has been made public.

At his introductory press conference in April, Reddick suggested he would be amenable to a multi-year accord with Gang Green but would also be willing to play out the 2024 season and hit the open market next year. One way or another, the Jets will be counting on him to spearhead their pass-rushing contingent, particularly since their 2023 sack leader, Bryce Huff, defected to (coincidentally) the Eagles in free agency.

If Reddick does maintain the level of production he has established over his past few seasons — he has averaged over 12.5 sacks per year from 2020-23 — he will certainly be in line for a monster payday in 2025 (if he does not get one before then). There are currently 12 edge rushers with contracts featuring average annual values of at least $20MM, and Reddick’s production and record of durability give him a strong case to join that group. Whether he elects to skip the remainder of OTAs and/or any portion of mandatory minicamp or training camp as part of that endeavor remains to be seen.