Amid the chaos of the NFL's first head coach change of the 2024 season, the New York Jets also remain at an impasse with outside linebacker Haason Reddick.
Jets owner Woody Johnson is hoping to get the holdout resolved and urged Reddick to head on down to the team facility to work things out.
"Haason, get in your car, drive down (I-)95 and come to the New York Jets, and we can meet you and give you an escort right in the building," Johnson said Tuesday during a zoom call with reporters to address the firing of head coach Robert Saleh, "and you'll fit right in and you're going to love it here and you're going to feel welcome and you're going to accomplish great things with us."
Johnson's off-the-cuff comments on Reddick made for a bit of an odd moment on a crazy day in Gotham. Nonetheless, the owner is still holding out hope his absentee OLB will join the team at some point.
The Jets acquired Reddick from the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of March, but the pass rusher, seeking a new contract, has refused to report without a new deal, creating a stalemate that has extended into October. He's due $14.25 million in the final season of his current pact.
Reddick is coming off four straight double-digit sack seasons with three teams (the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers and Eagles) and has gone to back-to-back Pro Bowls with Philly. However, his discontent with his contract situation led to a trade and conventional wisdom suggests an extension or reworked deal would've been discussed previously with the Jets. Nothing was worked out, though, and Reddick has been missing in action and racking up fines throughout the offseason and now the regular season.
It's an unprecedented scenario for Johnson, who's owned the Jets for 25 years.
"This is something I've never seen before, you know, and you've got even more years than I have," Johnson said to ESPN reporter Rich Cimini. "I don't think any of us have seen anything like this. I think you have to be part psychologist and part some-other gist to try and figure out what is actually going on. I hope that the young man can come to the team."
Reddick, who was 29 when he was traded and turned 30 during Week 4, and his holdout have been overlooked at times and were certainly secondary in the news cycle on Tuesday with Saleh's ousting. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is now the team's interim head coach and the team will start anew on Monday night against the Buffalo Bills.
Perhaps some progress is ahead on Reddick's unprecedented situation. Johnson had never fired a head coach mid-season before Tuesday, after all.
"When he gets here, he will find a very welcome locker room and he'll be able to fit right in," Johnson said, "but he's got to get here first."
