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Now the Jets would sign up for an edge-rusher having an 11-sack season any time
When was the last time they had an edge rusher with 11 sacks (or more)? John Abraham in 2010 with 13?
I’m talking about edge rushers, not interior rushers.
So Hassan Reddick certainly had a good season as an edge-rusher by recent Jets standards finishing with 11 sacks.
But the year before in Philadelphia, he had 16 sacks.
So why the dip last year?
Simple.
For the first month of the season he was playing with a cast on his thumb.
He tore ligaments in his thumb during practice against the Cleveland Browns on August 17, 2023.
“I messed up the hand during practice. It wasn’t bad, that’s why I was able to finish practice,” Reddick said after the injury. “We just want to get it looked at because of the swelling that was around it. That’s when we figured it was better to go get surgery now, get it stable for the season.
So until late September, he was playing with a cast on his thumb, not ideal for an edge-rusher. Had no sacks in the first three games. The cast comes off in Week Four, and boom, he has a sack in a win over Washington.
So it’s fair to assume that if he wasn’t playing with a cast on his thumb the first three games, his sack totals might have been even higher last year.
But an 11-sack season is still darn good in the NFL, so it still makes you wonder why the Eagles would trade a player who had 16 and 11 sacks for them the last two years.
More information came out about why they traded him earlier this week.
One reason for the move seems to be connected to the vision of the Eagles’ new defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, hired on January 25.
“They moved [Reddick] because Fangio wanted him out,” said Dan Sileo of the National Football Post radio show heard on Jakib Sports.
Fangio likes to play a 3-4 front and drop his outside linebackers into coverage sometimes, and according to Sileo, Reddick made it clear he doesn’t like dropping into coverage. He didn’t like it last year when they did it under the previous coordinator, and he still doesn’t like it.
So they signed Huff, put Reddick on the trade market, and eventually traded him to the Jets.
“[Huff] is more willing to play along with what Vic is looking for in the defense than Hassan Reddick was willing to do,” Sileo said.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni (pictured above), has given Fangio autonomy over the defense, and the veteran coordinator didn’t think Reddick fit his scheme.
According to Sileo, Fangio and Reddick met after Fangio took the Eagles job, and the defensive end expressed his feelings about dropping into coverage. In other words, he doesn’t like doing it.
At that point, according to Sileo, Fangio went to Eagles GM Howie Roseman and suggested making a move. They signed Huff, who is willing to drop into coverage, and traded Reddick.
April 3, 2024
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