Contract Details of New York Jets Holdout’s New Salary Revealed

The details of the New York Jets’ restructured contract with edge rusher Haason Reddick have been revealed.

Apr 4, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Jets linebacker Haason Reddick sits court side during the fourth quarter between the New York Knicks and the Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The big news before Sunday’s game between the New York Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers was an agreement between the Jets and holdout pass rusher Haason Reddick.

The big question afterward was the nature of the renegotiated deal?

When the deal was first reported by outlets like ESPN, the Jets had agreed to pay Reddick the remainder of his base salary for the season, which was approximately $9 million. He was due to make $14.5 million in base salary this season, the last year of a three-year, $45 million deal he signed with Philadelphia in 2022.

Some reports noted that the Jets had agreed to waive the fines that Reddick had racked up during the holdouts. Those fines and lost salary approached $12 million.

The problem with that was that the NFL doesn’t allow teams to waive fines like this. So, the Jets and Reddick took a different approach, and the details of that approach were revealed after the deal was signed.

CBS Sports’ Joel Corry, a former NFL player agent who now writes about player contract, had a detailed breakdown of how the Jets and Reddick’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, resolved the money issues to at least give the Pro Bowl pass rusher a chance to recoup what he lost in the longest holdout since the latest collective bargaining agreement was signed in 2020.

First, there’s the remaining base salary. Had Reddick played on without the holdout, he would have made $14.25 million. Minus the lost game checks his base will be $8,708,333 for the remaining 11 weeks in the regular season.

What’s next? Performance incentives. The Jets added $5,341,628 in performance bonuses. Added together and it gets Reddick just over $14 million.

To get that money back everything will have to go right.

The most likely bonus to earn is participation in 40% of the remaining defensive snaps this season. But, for that, Reddick would only get back $791,628.

He’ll have sack-based incentives, but even the minimum will be tough to hit with 10 games left. He can make $500,000 for eight sacks,  $1 million for nine sacks, $1.5 million for 10 sacks and $2.05 million for 12 sacks.

If Reddick can do that, he might just make the Pro Bowl. That’s a $500,000 incentive.

And, if the Jets, somehow, make the Super Bowl and Reddick is on the active roster, he’ll get $2 million.

If you’re wondering if that cures the fines and lost paychecks from the holdout, it likely won’t. Corry estimated Reddick’s losses at $12.1 million. If Reddick wins an NFLPA grievance over the three preseason game fines and the Jets waive the mini-camp fine and don’t pursue recouping the signing bonus, then his exposure would reduce by more than $4 million.

The bottom line, per Corry, is this:

“At best, Reddick can reasonably expect $7,949,961 from playing football this season.”

It makes one wonder if the holdout was worth it?