New York Jets Coach Not Stressing Lack of Movement on Reddick Deal

New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh doesn’t seem too concerned about the lack of movement on a Haason Reddick deal.

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh walks along the sideline during the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Haason Reddick is now the only NFL player who is holding out for a new contract. He hasn’t reported to the New York Jets and he didn’t play in Monday’s game.

He doesn’t appear to be on his way to the practice facility anytime soon.

Jets head coach Robert Saleh isn’t game-planning for him entering Sunday’s contest with the Tennessee Titans. He said on Wednesday that the door is open for him to return, but he isn’t going to stress about the contract standoff.

"We're always gonna want our own in the building,” Saleh said. “It is what it is. Whenever the deal gets done, it gets done."

The standoff doesn’t appear to have an end in sight. Now that the regular season has begun, the veteran edge rusher is surrendering game checks. He was due $800,000 for the San Francisco 49ers game.

While some outlets have reported he’s lost $2 million in fines from his holdout, the New York Post reported that it’s more likely that he’s surrendered nearly $6 million between game checks and fines.

While the New York defense had trouble stopping the run against the 49ers, the pass rush didn’t exert much pressure on quarterback Brock Purdy either.

The lead-up to the season opener was filled with plenty of drama surrounding Reddick.

Last week he made a charity appearance in Jersey City, N.J., to help distribute school supplies and backpacks to area children. During the appearance he signed autographs — including Jets helmets.

That fueled speculation that a deal might get done. That included a report from NFL insider and former general manager Michael Lombardi on VSiN that sources within Reddick’s camp told him the veteran was “…due to come in sometime maybe today or tomorrow.”

That never happened.

Later, The Athletic reported that Reddick’s camp said the pass rusher was operating under the “mindset that he will die on this sword.”

Before last week, New York general manager Joe Douglas told reporters that he and Reddick’s representatives had barely spoken in weeks. Previous to that, Reddick asked for another trade, which is how he ended up with the Jets in the first place.

He is in the final year of a three-year, $45 million deal he signed when he was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. New York inherited the deal after they were unable to re-work it after acquiring him this offseason.

Last year with Eagles, he finished with 11 sacks, 23 quarterback hits and 13 tackles for loss, leading to a second straight Pro Bowl nod.

In 2022, the first of his current deal, he had career highs with 16 sacks and 26 quarterback hits. He also forced an NFL-best five fumbles that season.

In the past four years he has amassed 51 sacks. Only Trey Hendrickson (53), Myles Garrett (58) and T.J. Watt (62) have more in that span. He is also one of seven defensive players with a streak of at least four seasons of 10 or more sacks in the past 10 years.

He also leads the NFL in forced fumbles (15) and strip sacks (13) in that span.