Former NFL Network host Andrew Siciliano recently told the New York Jets that it’s time to give up on Haason Reddick.
Siciliano was filling in for Rich Eisen on, “The Rich Eisen Show” when he delivered his rant.
“If I’m the Jets, I just let him go. Get him out. You’re going to have to wear this, I’m sorry Jets but this makes you look bad. There is really no other way around it. It makes him look bad and I don’t know what the true conversation was behind the scenes but you traded for a guy with whom you had no deal. You always do the deal before the trade,” Siciliano said on August, 13. “So, move on and you’re going to have to take the L on this if you’re the Jets. The issue is for Haason Reddick this late in the preseason and training camp, who is going to write you that deal right now? You are not going to get the big bag that you want. It is simply not going to happen. So try to find a team, try to find a home, it might come down to injury, somebody lost somebody and we need an edge rusher.”
Why Moving on From Reddick Makes No Sense for the Jets
The Jets made their bed and they must lay in it.
Gang Green agreed to a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles to bring Reddick here to New York this offseason. Much has been made that they didn’t figure out the contract ahead of time.
There is a lot of he said and she said involved. The Jets believe they had a gentleman’s agreement with Reddick that they were going to work it out in the future. Reddick believes they had a gentleman’s agreement with the organization for the opposite that they’d figure it out as soon as possible.
Now we are mere weeks from the start of the 2024 season and there is no end in sight for this issue between player and team.
The Jets are in too deep now. Giving up on Reddick would only make this team worse.
Releasing him would give Reddick what he wants and allow him to pick his next destination. Teams might not have been lining up to trade an asset and pay Reddick.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport said the Jets were the only team in the NFL that was willing to do both. However if the team released him, he would have suitors.
Reddick is one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. He has 58 sacks in his seven seasons in the league. 50.5 of those sacks have come over the last four seasons.
Reddick would be a bonus-free agent that would likely draw the interest of the best teams in the NFL who would do anything for the chance to add a player of this caliber so late in the game.
The Jets Say They Won’t Give up on Reddick
Reddick requested his second trade over a six-month span. It didn’t take long for general manager Joe Douglas to come out and emphatically state that won’t happen on social media.
Head coach Robert Saleh said on August 13 that he would never get so frustrated with a player that he would just give up and want to wash his hands of the situation.
“No, I’ll never do that with a player,” Saleh told the media.
#Jets HC Robert Saleh went back and forth with the media over a two minute span on the Haason Reddick situation.
‘It is what it is’ + won’t elaborate beyond the statement from GM Joe Douglas.
Coach Saleh promised @Connor_J_Hughes that this situation isn’t a distraction, ‘it’s…
The Jets aren’t cutting Reddick. Gang Green would be worse as a football team. They would look horrible publically and seemingly would be waving the white flag in defeat with that move.
It doesn’t sound like they are trading him. In other words, if Reddick wants to play football in 2024 or beyond he will have to suit up for the Jets.
If he skips this entire season, his contract would toll, and he would be stuck in the same situation next year. The only difference is he would be a year older.
The waters are currently choppy with all parties, but it would behoove everyone to work together.
