Haason Reddick needed just three words to describe his wonky 2024 NFL season: "Very bizarre. Weird." To be quite frank, he could have just named the team he sort of played for and the same point would have come across just as effectively: the New York Jets. Yes, Reddick seems to have learned less than nothing from his time staying on the runway with Gang Green. He played just 10 games for them.
Reddick signed a one-year, $14 million deal to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his free agency. This will be the fifth NFL franchise he has played for in his nine-year NFL career out of Temple. Even more interesting, the Philadelphia Eagles seemed to do just fine without him last season, having won their second Super Bowl since he entered the league. There might be something to all of this then...
Ahead of last season, Reddick was traded to the Jets on the condition that they could work out a long-term extension for him. He had been with the Eagles the two years prior. I do not want to get into it, but it was a ton of he said, she said crapola going on in Florham Park. It resulted in Reddick failing to show up to training camp and missing the first third of the season. All of this to accomplish what?
When in doubt, Reddick will retreat to play for a team either in Philadelphia or led by a Temple guy...
Haason Reddick shows he has learned nothing from New York Jets run
Reddick starred at Temple for Matt Rhule in college before becoming the No. 13 overall pick of the Arizona Cardinals in the 2017 NFL Draft. The head coach at the time of the Cardinals was a former Temple head coach himself in Bruce Arians. Shortly thereafter, Arians retired, went into broadcasting, and then took over the Buccaneers. Reddick then left for Rhule's Carolina Panthers ahead of 2021.
Rhule's reign in Charlotte did not go as planned. Reddick then signed with the "hometown" Eagles in 2022 before being traded to the Jets ahead of the 2024 season. This was the first time he did not play for a head coach who did not spend time coaching in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is only fitting that he went to Arians's greatest protege's team in Todd Bowles's Buccaneers on a one-year contract.
Reddick is now on the wrong side of 30. Rhule is never coaching in the NFL again. Arians is enjoying happy hour as we speak. For as long as Bowles continues to win in Tampa Bay, Reddick will have a Temple Tough guy to continue his career with. Unfortunately, he has proven to be too big of a head case for the talent he occasionally taps into. However, Tampa Bay is probably the best spot for him.
While his NFL career has been unorthodox, Reddick is rapidly approaching 10 years in the league.