It’s now or never for the New York Jets and Haason Reddick.
“Keep an eye out this weekend and early next week for potential movement on the Haason Reddick front with the Jets,” ESPN NFL Insider Dan Graziano said in an article posted on Wednesday, September 18. “Nothing was ever likely to happen this week, as the Jets have a quick turnaround for a Thursday night game against the Patriots. But they know they need to do something about the pass rush, and solving the Reddick dilemma would seem to be the straightest line to a solution. If nothing happens on this situation next week, people around the league believe that it’s possible nothing will, and the Jets might end up having to trade Reddick between now and the trade deadline.”
The NFL trade deadline is on Tuesday, November 5. Last year it was on October 31, but the NFL Owners approved the decision to move it back a week.
This Additional Pocket of Time Makes Sense to Solve the Issues
After the Jets get past their Week 3 matchup against New England on Thursday, September 19, they have a 10-day gap until their next contest. The next game is on September 29 against the Denver Broncos.
That provides a unique opportunity between those games for the Jets to potentially figure things out with Reddick.
However, Graziano said if it doesn’t happen then, it’s fair to wonder when it will.
Both sides are firmly entrenched in their positions. The Jets refuse to negotiate with Reddick until he reports to the team. Reddick refuses to report until he gets a bag of money that pays him like one of the top pass rushers in the NFL.
This past weekend there was a major shift in leverage.
The Jets lost Jermaine Johnson to a torn Achilles. He is out for the season and was going to be relied upon to be a key cog in the defensive line rotation as a primary starter.
In the last two seasons, Johnson has appeared in 62.5% of the defensive snaps. Now someone is going to have to step up to fill that role.
Graziano explained that solving the Reddick issue is the “straightest line” toward solving the Jets pass rush issues.
An Alternative Plan on a Short Week for the Jets
Reddick won’t be playing in the Jets versus Patriots game on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 3.
So the green and white will have to come up with creative ways to rush the passer without Reddick and Johnson.
The Jets don’t normally blitz. Last season they blitzed only 26% of the time on third down which was the lowest mark in the NFL, per StatMuse.
Gang Green’s principles are based around the front four creating pressure on their own. However for that strategy to work you need the necessary horses to pull it off.
With all of the losses to the Jets’ defensive line over the last couple of months, it’s fair to question if they have enough horses in the stable. One way to counteract a lack of personnel is to call an audible at the line of scrimmage.
One strategy that could prove beneficial is blitzing more to overcompensate for the lack of star power up front. That could work against the Patriots and quite frankly moving forward until they make some other roster changes.
