Eagles Have Two Questions to Consider After Haason Reddick Trade Request

There's two questions to answer regarding the news that the Philadelphia Eagles have given pass rusher Haason Reddick permission to seek a trade.

PHILADELPHIA – It wasn’t the kind of news that fans of the Philadelphia Eagles wanted to wake up to on Super Bowl Sunday – Haason Reddick has permission to seek a trade.

Reddick is one of the team’s top defensive players, if not their very best on that side of the ball. Naturally, it created quite a stir.

Perhaps for the sake of dialing the panic level down a few notches, permitting Reddick to look for a trade doesn’t mean he will need a ride to the airport anytime soon. Maybe not at all.

Remember, the Eagles permitted Darius Slay to seek a trade after last year’s Super Bowl and the veteran cornerback came back on a reworked deal.

This is just a means to give a player the leeway to gauge his value, to see what a team may be willing to pay him. And it should be a lot considering Reddick is one of the league’s best pass rushers.

If a team bowls him over, there are two things to factor in.

Haason Reddick :: Ed Kracz/SI Eagles Today

First, what would the compensation be for a team interested in trading for Reddick? A player with four straight double-digit sack seasons and 50.5 sacks in those four seasons, not counting the playoffs, won’t be given away on the cheap.

Second, how motivated would Reddick, 29, be to accept a deal? Perhaps he would be willing to restructure a three-year contract that is in its final season and carries a $21.8 million salary cap charge, but being allowed to see what interest there is for him would negate the potential for him being an unhappy camper this season.

He took a team-friendly contract when he signed here two years ago because he wanted to play for the team he grew up rooting for from across the Delaware River in Camden, N.J., and Reddick honored that deal through his second season even though he had wanted more money. He never let that desire impact his play

“Every time I get to wear that midnight green, every time I get to play in an Eagles uniform is always going to be special for me,” he said right after the season ended.

“Whether we’re winning or we’re losing, a kid from the area, a kid who watched the Eagles will always be special to me. I was born and raised through the NFC East division, so for me, every chance, every opportunity I get to wear the Eagles uniform will always be special to me.”

It's easy to say, well, the Eagles have Nolan Smith to take his place, but Smith to take his place and join Josh Sweat on the other side of the line, but then what?

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The position immediately becomes a need, one that would probably be addressed through free agency, with probably cheaper players, but they won’t be as good as Reddick, and in the draft, who would need to be developed.

The guess here is Reddick will return on a deal similar to the one Slay got, though Reddick probably gets a bit more.

Slay’s deal was for three years and worth $42 million with $24.5M guaranteed, per overthecap.com. He received a 10.1M signing bonus and has a guaranteed option this year. There is another option in 2025 that is worth $16.1M.

Reddick didn’t sound like a player who believed he would be leaving when he talked after the season-ending loss in Tampa.

“Some faces, some people won’t be here next year, but that’s the sport,” he said. “We rode the high horse until we didn’t last year, and a lot of changes still were made. The season ended (Jan. 15), a lot of changes are gonna be made. It’s the sport, that’s how we roll.”