The New York Jets have a chance at the divisional lead against the Buffalo Bills on Monday night, and team owner Woody Johnson has a message for Haason Reddick.
“Haason, get in your car, drive down I-95 and come to the New York Jets,” Johnson said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters.
Reddick — who lives in Camden, N.J., roughly 80 miles southwest of the Jets’ training facility — is holding out for a new deal.
Johnson’s plea came hours after he shook the organization with the firing of coach Robert Saleh, who helmed the Jets since January 2021. Saleh went 20-36 as coach and the Jets never sniffed the postseason despite having one of the NFL’s best defenses over the last two years. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season.
The Jets traded for Reddick this offseason, sending a conditional 2026 third-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles as a replacement for defensive end Bryce Huff. After a 10-sack season in 2023, the Jets let Huff walk into free agency to — ironically — the Eagles.
Reddick, coming off a dominant four-year stretch on par with the NFL’s best pass rushers, felt like he earned a raise this offseason after a stellar two-year run with the Eagles. He finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting after a 16-sack season in 2022 and followed it with 11 sacks and 23 quarterback hits in 2023. But the Eagles wouldn’t give him the raise he sought, instead allowing him to field trade offers.
The Jets then picked up Reddick knowing he wanted a contract adjustment. New York made a below-market offer before the trade, but Reddick turned it down, and the Jets moved forward with the acquisition without a new deal in place. The Jets said they didn’t make a new offer on a long-term extension because Reddick’s agent informed the team that he would play under his current contract. However, Reddick’s camp believed the Jets would do a deal and trusted this would get done by training camp.
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Five weeks into the 2024 season, Reddick hasn’t played a snap, forfeiting nearly $4.2 million of his non-guaranteed base salary of $14.25 million. (Reddick also skipped all offseason team events, collecting more than $8 million in total fines so far this year, per ESPN.)
“We can meet you and give you an escort right in the building and you will fit right in and you’re going to love it here, and you’re going to feel welcome and you’re going to accomplish great things with us,” Johnson said Tuesday.
Reddick’s warm welcome would follow an August trade request out of New York and one that Jets general manager Joe Douglas was quick to shut down.
“We have informed Haason that we will not trade him, that he is expected to be here with his teammates, and that he will continue to be fined per the CBA if he does not report,” Douglas said in a statement.
The Jets (2-3) play the Bills (3-2) at home on Monday night for the grip on the AFC East.
(Photo: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)
