The New York Jets have received universal condemnation for the Haason Reddick situation. Often cited is that they let a younger ascending edge rusher, Bryce Huff, walk in free agency to the very team that traded Reddick to them, the Philadelphia Eagles.
After three games, Reddick still hasn’t reported to the Jets, and Huff has been wildly unproductive in Philadelphia. On top of having zero sacks, he has only two pressures on 44 pass-rush snaps (4.5% pressure rate) while providing his customarily subpar run defense (48.6 Pro Football Focus run defense grade). He appears to be a poor fit for Vic Fangio’s 3-4 defense.
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Vic Fangio with a very honest answer about Bryce Huff’s ability to play the run and be an every down player
Says he has the ability to do it but as of now he has work to do against the run: pic.twitter.com/rf8OBb53Pk
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) July 25, 2024
Most Jets fans wanted the team to re-sign Huff in free agency. Reddick is highly frustrated with the Jets, and the Eagles are highly frustrated with Huff. Could a swap possibly happen?
While this is a major stretch of speculation, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, the idea is not totally ludicrous from Reddick’s angle.
Well that’s something…
ESPN’s Rich Cimini said ‘a little birdie’ told him that Haason Reddick is so frustrated with the #Jets that he wouldn’t mind getting traded back to the #Eagles. 😳
‘Again heard it from a little birdie, take it for what it’s worth.’ 🧐🤔
🎙️ Flight Deck… pic.twitter.com/6qoJ3KmTkY
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) September 26, 2024
Cimini stated that Reddick would not mind a trade back to Philadelphia. As far as a Reddick-for-Huff swap, he said, “Boy, that would be one of the more bizarre trades in NFL history.”
Making the leap from frustration on both sides to a trade is nothing more than a Jets fan’s pipe dream at this point. The Eagles unloaded Reddick and signed Huff for a reason. They were not willing to give Reddick the extension he wanted. So why would they take him back, even if Huff isn’t working out in Philadelphia?
Furthermore, this would leave the Eagles with even more dead cap. The Eagles initially took a dead cap hit for the remaining signing bonus on Reddick’s contract. While the details of Huff’s contract are very complicated and not entirely known, according to Over the Cap’s estimation, the Eagles would have a dead cap hit of $3.225 million this year and $12.9 million next year*. That’s an awful lot of dead cap.
* Note: Over the Cap lists trades somewhat weirdly, so the numbers under “post-June 1 trade” do not seemingly reflect the ones above. Essentially, if the Eagles traded Huff, his signing bonus from 2025-28 would accelerate onto the 2025 salary cap. That would leave the Eagles with $12.9 million in dead cap.
Most importantly, it has only been three games. Huff was too good a pass rusher with the Jets for the Eagles to give up on him now. He could dominate the Buccaneers this week, quieting angry Eagles fans and making this a completely moot point. Remember, Jermaine Johnson had a 4.7% pressure rate through four games last season.
The Eagles tried to restore Huff’s efficiency in Week 3 by playing him on fewer run downs and lowering his snap count. Just five of his 18 snaps against the Saints were against the run (27.8%). That is virtually identical to his rate with the Jets from last season. It didn’t work, though, as Huff generated zero pressures.
For now, this is the Eagles’ problem. But if Huff continues to disappoint, perhaps the impossible could happen.
If anything, another trade for a former Jets player makes more sense. John Franklin-Myers is currently playing 35% of the Broncos’ snaps. He has played the fewest snaps (66) of the Broncos’ interior defensive linemen.
Franklin-Myers is also somewhat miscast as an interior defensive lineman in a 3-4 defense. It’s showing up in his play, as he has a 34.9 PFF run defense grade and a 5.1% pressure rate through three games. (His production as a pass rusher on the interior already decreased last season.) The sample size is minuscule, though, as he has just 26 run defense snaps and 39 pass rush snaps.
What if Franklin-Myers continues to be mediocre for the Broncos, though? If the Jets come knocking, would they be willing to trade him back?
There is really no reason for Denver to trade Franklin-Myers, though. All they would recoup is a prorated portion of his $3 million guaranteed salary this year. The Broncos have been rotating their defensive linemen even more heavily than the Jets do, which means they still need him.
With the Jets desperately in need of edge rush help, thinking about reuniting with productive former players makes sense. Still, acquiring either one is likely a pipe dream.
