Come again?
Jets coaches are raving about Haason Reddick and defending his production despite the glaring lack of evidence.
Reddick, they claim, has been as advertised when they traded for him.
“You know, you might say that had I put on the tape and I saw a guy that looked rusty or slow or not explosive, you know, but everything that we thought we were getting with him, everything that we had seen on tape that made us pursue him as hard as we did has showed up,” interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said Wednesday. “It’s just been a byproduct of a lot of things. Maybe just still getting familiar with what we do, so I don’t think it’s a physical thing so much as the [opportunities].
“For pass rushers to get production, you need to have substantial leads, and you need to have leads throughout the game so that you could really let your rushers go, and we haven’t had enough of those opportunities for him and for our entire D-line, for that matter.”
Reddick has played in six games since ending his holdout and has recorded just half a sack, eight total tackles and two tackles for loss.
The previous four seasons, Reddick recorded 50.5 sacks and never had fewer than 11 in a year.
So despite Ulbrich’s claim, the 2024 version of Reddick hasn’t produced anywhere close to the version the Jets traded for.
“That’s fair to say,” defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton said Thursday. “I would also say, the amount of plays that you have — here’s something that I always use with my D-linemen — if you’re a three-down starter and you play a whole season, you’ll get about 300 passes. … If you get 300 passes and you get 10 sacks, you’re the man.
“Having limited opportunities, I’m really happy with the way he came in physically, happy with his understanding, his football acumen, his awareness in picking up the scheme.”
The Jets acquired Reddick from the Eagles in exchange for a conditional 2026 third-round pick, and he subsequently refused to report to the team until late October while seeking a new contract.
The two sides agreed to a reworked contract before he finally showed up, and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has stressed that they are committed to finding an agreement on a long-term deal.
But now that he’s on the field, the 30-year-old Reddick has done little to earn one.
“When I’m watching him rush, I’m excited and feel like he’s continuing to build and continuing to grow,” Whitecotton said. “I really believe in what he’s doing. I’m as fired up as I was the day we traded for him.”
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