Haason

Reddick

The Jets must still activate Reddick from the exempt list, but that will happen soon. With a reworked contract for the remainder of this season, the star pass rusher will now look to add to a defense that was bludgeoned for 409 yards and 37 points by the Steelers last week. Reddick has totaled 38 sacks in his last three seasons and has four straight seasons with double-digit sacks under his belt. He should have plenty of chances to get after the quarterback in this week’s game against the Patriots.

Reddick recently agreed to a reworked deal and reported to the team after a protracted absence. While Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said Monday that it was too early to say if Reddick could play this week against the Patriots, Rapoport suggested “if all goes well,” Reddick will suit up. He would join a Jets front seven with the NFL’s eighth highest QB pressure rate.

Reddick agreed to a reworked contract Monday and will practice, but it’ll be his first action after holding out for the first seven games and missing camp. The 30-year-old should be a factor going forward, but it wouldn’t be a shock if his season didn’t begin until Week 9.

Per Schefter, this is the first time a player has held out beyond Week 1 and received an adjusted contract. It’s not, however, a contract extension, which Reddick was initially seeking after the Eagles traded him to New York. Part of the adjustments include New York waiving over $12 million in fines that Reddick racked up while holding out. Reddick has double-digit sacks in each of the past four seasons despite playing for three different teams over that stretch. Finally getting him in the fold will be a big boost for an already-talented Jets defense.

Reddick’s new agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is reportedly trying to work out a deal with the Jets, but remains open to a potential trade that could get Reddick out of New York without ever having suited up for the Jets. If he is traded before the league’s trade deadline, Reddick would likely require a ramp up period before taking the field. Pro Football Focus graded Reddick as 2023’s 33rd best pass rusher.

Just days after CAA, Reddick’s previous agents, parted ways with him, Reddick has now hired Rosenhaus in hopes of securing the deal he’s been seeking since last offseason while he was still with the Eagles. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Reddick also hired agent Ryan Matha, who will be present with Reddick and Rosenhaus at tonight’s Monday night contest against the Bills. Reddick hasn’t done anything with the Jets since his introductory press conference, and would likely need a few weeks to get ramped up if he does join the team in the coming days.

Either Reddick’s agents are trying to absolve themselves of any blame for his holdout fiasco, or he really has been going against their advice this entire time. It’s possible the initial holdout was a team effort that has since morphed into Reddick against the world against the advice of his reps. Pot committed now, Reddick is going to need some better counsel to get out of this mess.

There had been some speculation over whether or not the Jets could deal Reddick back to the Eagles after a report emerged that Reddick “wouldn’t mind going back to Philadelphia.” Unfortunately for Reddick and, at this point, the Jets, the league doesn’t allow this to happen. Reddick, who has yet to report to the Jets in any capacity since his introductory press conference, is staring down the barrel of a wasted 2024 season if he and the Jets can’t sort out their differences and/or work out a trade to another team ahead of this year’s trade deadline. The 30-year-old pass rusher is coming off an 11-sack season and has totaled 27 sacks over the last two years. Still on the final year of a three-year contract he signed back in 2022, Reddick would find himself in the same situation in 2025 if he doesn’t report to the Jets on or before their sixth game of the season, per Over the Cap.

Johnson’s year is over. The 2022 first-round pick tore the Achilles during Week 2 against the Titans. Johnson finished with 7.5 sacks in 2024 during his second season, and was expected to be a big part of their pass rush. That won’t happen now, and New York may need to look externally with Haason Riddick unlikely to report to the Jets in the foreseeable future.

The Jets and Reddick are not close to a contract extension as Fowler notes, and while the Jets have held steadfast that they wouldn’t trade the 29-year-old defensive end, the situation has become dire enough that executives believe that New York won’t have a choice. Is there ever anything normal with the Jets?