Eagles Make Big Splash, Sign Pass Rusher Haason Reddick
Howie Roseman said at the NFL Scouting Combine that, “the bottom line is we didn’t get enough pressure on the quarterback.”
So, the Eagles’ GM went and did something about it.
He backed up the truck and used a good chunk of his salary cap on a pass rusher, signing Haason Reddick to a three-year, $45 million deal with $30M of that guaranteed on Monday.
Reddick has been one of the NFL‘s top sack producers the past two seasons, collecting 23.5 of them. That’s the fifth-best total in that span behind T.J. Watt (37.5), Myles Garrett (28), Trey Hendrickson (27), and Aaron Donald (26).
He had 11 last year.
Reddick, who is 6-foot-1, 235, is listed as a linebacker, but as long as he gets to the quarterback, the Eagles won’t care about positional labels.
The Eagles had just 29 sacks last year, which was next-to-last in the NFL, ahead of only the Atlanta Falcons, who had just 18, and one behind the Detroit Lions, who had 30.
The last Eagle who had double-digit sacks was defensive tackle Fletcher Cox when he put up 10.5 in 2018.
“We have to have pressure on the quarterback," said Roseman. "We have to continue to have pressure on the quarterback. It's a priority to us. We'll have opportunities this offseason to do it, and I would be very surprised if we didn't do something there.
Reddick is still just 27.
He is coming home to where he was raised and where he played his college football.
A Camden N.J. native, Reddick went to Haddon Heights High School in South Jersey and then went to Temple.
Reddick joined Temple as a walk-on in 2012 and, as a freshman, he played running back and safety. As a senior in 2016, he was named first-team All-AAC after recording 65 tackles and 10.5 sacks as a defensive end.
He was drafted 13th overall by the Arizona Cardinals in 2017. The Eagles selected Derek Barnett right after Reddick went. Barnett is set to become a free agent when the new league year starts on Wednesday.
Reddick can't officially sign his new deal until Wednesday when he will return home after a year under his former Temple coach Matt Rhule in Carolina.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
