It sounds like Haason Reddick and Jets are heading towards disaster

On April 1, 2024, the Philadelphia Eagles traded Haason Reddick to the New York Jets for a conditional third-round draft pick in the 2026 draft. The Eagles’ valuation of Reddick seemed weird at the time, but after seeing the saga that’s unfolding between Reddick and the Jets, things are making more sense. 

Haason Reddick wants a lot of money and the Eagles weren’t okay with paying him. We don’t know exactly how much he wants and that’s because he hasn’t signed a new deal with the Jets. That relationship has become contentious and more details are being revealed every day. Most of those details are hilariously damning of the Jets and how they’ve mangled this whole thing

Breaking down the miscommunications and the negligence of the Reddick/Jets relationship

Maybe it’s on Haason Reddick, or maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s on the front office mind-meld of Joe Douglas and Woody Johnson, or maybe it’s not. Whatever the case is, everything about the Haason Reddick situation is going terribly. Diana Russini of The Athletic and Scoop City sums it up perfectly.

“The Jets traded for Reddick knowing he wanted a contract adjustment. (All teams interested in trading with the Eagles were told he wanted a new deal)” 

This makes sense. Haason Reddick was getting paid $15 million APY on his deal with the Eagles. In those two years, he had 25 sacks, which almost always seemed to come at clutch times. The player at the most important position on the defense was outplaying his contract, so why wouldn’t he want more money? It was good that everyone was being transparent here.

“Jets made a "below market" offer before the trade, Reddick turned it down”

Even if it was just a brainstorming session, if someone in the Jets organization walked into the room and said, ‘We should lowball this guy’ they should be fired out of a cannon into the sun. We haven’t heard of anyone being shot into space yet, so the person who that might have been is the owner Woody Johnson. 

“The Jets moved forward with the trade without a deal in place.”

‘Let’s do the trade anyway. He’ll fall in love with us once he comes to OTA’s and training camp’ said Woody (probably), ‘Once he falls in love with us and our culture, he’ll realize our offer was great.’ Spoiler: Reddick never came to anything.

They couldn’t have possibly thought that would work, right? Surely they must have had an incredibly clear conversation with Reddick about, specifically when a new contract would come.

“The Jets never made a new offer on a long-term extension because they say they were informed by Reddick's rep that he would play under his current contract”

How did nobody think that it was weird that Haason had a complete change of heart? When the Eagles decided to let Reddick shop himself around, they did so knowing that he wanted more money. Literally, everyone knew he wanted more money. In Russini’s first point, she said, “All teams interested in trading with the Eagles were told he wanted a new deal,” so how on Earth did the Jets think they were different?

“That is NOT the player's side. Reddick's camp believes the Jets said they WOULD do a deal and trusted this would get done by camp.”

Ah, so there it is. That incredibly clear and specific conversation didn’t happen. It turns out this was more of a text conversation where Reddick asked, ‘You guys are going to give me a new deal soon, right?’ and the Jets responded, ‘Yeah, for sure dude. It’ll happen or whatever.’

“A few weeks ago, the Jets called and said they would be willing to re-work the current deal if he showed up.  From the player's side, that's not what they agreed to before the trade, so he didn't show.”

So the Jets realized they messed up royally and tried to walk it back. No foul there; Everyone’s done that before. Unfortunately for them, the player they’re dealing with just got back from a trip to Japan where he learned about the Bushido Code.

It’s funny that the Jets are trying to lure Reddick to camp, saying that if he shows up they can get a deal done. Buddy, it’s 2024 and Docusign exists. You don’t have to be in person to get business done. Reddick is smart enough to know that as soon as he enters the building someone is going to lock the doors behind him.

“Now trust is broken by all.”

That seems a little noncommittal. Saying, “by all” doesn’t seem right. Keep in mind that NFL Insiders get their information from the inside. To stay on the inside you have to appease people who are on the inside. Saying “by all” seems like Diana is doing just that: appeasing the Jets to stay on the inside.

The story here shouldn’t be about how both parties erred. It should be about how a franchise tried to get an elite player but absolutely botched the process. Now, that player has the upper hand in negotiations and the team is left groveling, saying that they won’t trade him, and trying to fix a relationship that never started.