The Jets Have Already Bungled Their Biggest Move of the Offseason

New York acquired star pass rusher Haason Reddick from the Eagles in March, but can’t agree on a new contract with him—a tightfisted approach that can only be traced to owner Woody Johnson.

Jets owner Woody Johnson has overseen several eras of incompetence since purchasing the Jets in 2000. / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

There are precious few reasonable examples for why the Haason Reddick situation has escalated to the point it did Monday when he requested a trade from the New York Jets. The move necessitated a strong, public return volley from the team’s general manager in the form of a statement, cementing the situation as another needless distraction as the team rapidly approaches meaningful games for which they will need Reddick’s services (services which legitimized the letting go of two key rotational pass rushers from last year in John Franklin-Myers and Bryce Huff). 

Joe Douglas signed his name to the statement but it would be fairly stunning if the Jets’ GM who swung this trade in the first place was eager to die on some sword of frugality ahead of the most critical season in his lifetime. It would be equally stunning if the head coach was rooting for the team to dig in its heels to set some sort of ridiculous financial precedent when the reality is quite clear: Neither Douglas nor Robert Saleh will be here in 2025 if the Jets don’t make the playoffs and, surprise, having Reddick on their team is critical to the Jets making the playoffs. 

Occam’s Razor suggests the checkbook may simply not be available for them to spend the money. That, or perhaps Reddick so dramatically changed his demands that the team is willing to let him be an incredibly loud but distant air horn in the background throughout the entirety of the season. A strange decision because, as we said, it has already cost them the ability to bring back two very good pass rushers who would have contributed to Saleh’s dream hockey-style line rotation pass rush. (For what it’s worth, both sides seem to be insisting that they were in the right, with Reddick’s camp appearing to maintain that a new contract was part of the deal, while the Jets seem to be hinting that Reddick would have gotten some kind of adjustment if he showed up).  

Either way, the Jets are yet again struggling to understand what it really means to be all-in. Last year, they were so enamored with Aaron Rodgers and down on Zach Wilson that they dealt for the future Hall of Fame quarterback, newly minted as a quadragenarian, and signed players and hired an offensive coordinator specifically to make Rodgers function happily without supplying the team with a reasonable solution at backup quarterback should anything go wrong. 

Now, regardless of why Reddick is holding out, they won’t simply pay him to keep him happy and enter the season—for once—untattered and nonbattered by the perception that they cannot seem to do anything right. Honestly, when was the last time that a club traded for a Pro Bowl player, making that player the centerpiece of their offseason, and failed to either understand or kowtow to his contractual demands prompting a trade request? It’s ridiculous. 

Haason Reddick has yet to suit up in a Jets uniform. / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

This would be a wonderful time for the owner to step in and acknowledge that he has mortgaged everything for this very moment and that Reddick has artfully played his hand. Sometimes, a player is in the right place at the right time. Giving him something within an earshot of what he’s asking for and moving on with life seems to be the only prudent course of action. Waiting until the air horn gets so piercingly loud that everyone sustains damage to their ear drums before begrudgingly doing what they should have done six months ago appears to be the course we are on. It also appears to be a motus operandi that predates the current Jets regime by years. Remember this? 

I’m not saying that ignoring Reddick and possibly, eventually strong-arming him into accepting the fact that he’ll play under his current deal (because the fines will become astronomical if he doesn’t) won’t work. There’s obviously a time-honored Jets narrative at play here which causes us to seize upon perceived incompetence before it truly ripens into actual incompetence. The Jets rarely get the benefit of the doubt organizationally and I would guess that if you polled a hundred people Family Feud style as to who is handling their situation better, the Jets with Reddick or 49ers with Brandon Aiyuk, that Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch and Jed York would get 99 out of the 100 votes. 

But this is something Jets owner Woody Johnson needs to be aware of and actively combat. Trade for Reddick? Pay him. Sign Rodgers? Back him mercilessly and don’t allow for weeks of speculation as to what pyramid he is traversing through, making a mundane story into some kind of referendum on commitment. Have someone, anyone, who is making this place seem better than the place everyone imagines it to be? Highlight them. Appreciate them. Empower them. Do what you have not done up to this point.   

Signing Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses and Tyrod Taylor were all signs that seemed to indicate the team was getting there. They are walking the thin line between sane roster building and a complete confetti explosion of veteran free agent madness that will precede the biggest pratfall of our time. Why would they do anything to upset this already extremely delicate balancing act?

To me, playing hardball with Reddick tips the scale in the direction of pratfall. The Jets have cap space. They have a need. They have a player who has logged 27 sacks and 49 quarterback hits over the past two seasons asking for some cash. They need to pay him or, like the owner in Dallas, admit that all-in means different things to different people.