Back in April, the New York Jets sent a conditional third-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft to the Philadelphia Eagles for pass rusher Haason Reddick, a pick that could become a second-rounder if specific terms were met.
Instead, here we are just a few months later, and Reddick has requested a trade from the Jets, per multiple reports.
It seems Reddick was under the entirely logical assumption that when the Jets traded a Day 2 pick for him in April, they did so with the intention of giving him a new long-term contract. That's clearly not the case, thus Reddick's absence from training camp.
A first-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals back in 2017, Reddick spent the early part of his NFL career struggling as a square peg in a round hole, forced to play as an off-ball linebacker instead of rushing the passer off the edge, where his skill set clearly belonged.
Once he was finally moved to the edge in 2020, Reddick exploded for 49.5 sacks over the next four seasons, which he split between the Cardinals, the Carolina Panthers, and the Eagles. He was a Pro Bowler in each of the past two seasons, and his 2022 campaign featured 16 sacks and a fourth-place finish in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting. His dominant performance in the NFC title game helped the Eagles punch their ticket to the Super Bowl.
The Jets clearly wanted that kind of production added to their defensive front this season, but if they were willing to deal such a high future draft pick for him, how could they not have known that would come with certain financial expectations from Reddick's camp?
Perhaps the Jets thought that Reddick, who turns 30 years old next month, could be had on a short-term extension at a much lower number than he's seeking in reality. Maybe Reddick wants to be paid like the double-digit-sack machine he's been for the past four seasons, and not like an aging situational player.
This is a baffling situation for the Jets, who took away their own leverage to lowball Reddick in contract negotiations by trading a valuable draft pick in the future to secure his services. If they weren't prepared to pay him accordingly, they've got nobody to blame but themselves for the fact that they might have to ship him elsewhere for far less than they gave up just a few months ago.
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