Besides Aaron Rodgers, all anyone wants to talk about at New York Jets training camp is Haason Reddick. Every day, reporters ask Robert Saleh about Reddick’s holdout, trying to find different ways to frame the question, “Are you worried about it?” Saleh is likely tired of rephrasing, “No, I’m not.”
Finally, Saleh got down to the crux of why he’s not concerned.
“There’s examples of players, like Aaron Donald and Chris Jones a couple of years ago, who didn’t show up till Week 1 and they did just fine,” he said. He explained that at this stage of Reddick’s career, he’s just not all that worried.
People acting like this Reddick thing is another hilarious "LOL Jets" situation as if Chris Jones didn't skip the season opener last year only for them to cruise to another SB and Nick Bosa didn't skip all of camp to make the SB
This stuff doesn't affect on-field play at all
— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) July 24, 2024
Saleh has commented on this before, but the direct comparison is apt. Jones actually held out into the regular season last year, missing the Chiefs’ season opener (a loss to the Lions). He still finished the year ranked second in pressures among all interior defensive linemen, posted 10.5 sacks, and was a first-team All-Pro for the second consecutive season. In fact, Jones recorded six pressures and 1.5 sacks in his first game back. Meanwhile, Donald held out in both 2017 and 2018. He was the Defensive Player of the Year in both seasons.
While Reddick is not quite of that caliber, his sack numbers are remarkably consistent. They stayed similar going from Arizona to Carolina to Philadelphia in three consecutive seasons. There’s no reason to expect anything different from him with the Jets, regardless of the training camp reps he receives.
Would Saleh prefer to have Reddick at training camp? Of course. But Joe Douglas isn’t going to cave to Reddick’s demands just for some relatively unimportant practice time. It would benefit both sides to end the stalemate, but the Jets are not desperate.
As Saleh said, Will McDonald and Micheal Clemons are getting important reps in camp. Even Takk McKinley (before his injury) has received more run without Reddick there.
That’s why it has always been wise for Jets fans to ignore the Reddick drama even if it extended into training camp. The end game is Week 1 in San Francisco. If Reddick doesn’t play then, he’ll be cutting off his nose to spite his face. But until that happens, Saleh has every reason to shrug the situation off.
