Thoughts and Trickledown on Signing of Haason Reddick
There’s always trickledown when a player comes and goes, and that will be the case with the Eagles’ signing of linebacker Haason Reddick on Monday afternoon.
The biggest trickledown is that likely to pass without drafting a linebacker in the first round.
Even after Alex Singleton was set free to look for a new deal hours after general manager Howie Roseman delivered one of the top pass-rush specialists in the NFL, and one who plays linebacker, the odds of taking another so quickly in the draft are remote.
Devin Lloyd, Nakobe Dean…it’s been nice knowing you.
The Eagles extended T.J. Edwards’ contract late last season, and they like what he showed on the field. And they should. Edwards finished as the team’s second-leading tackler behind Singleton. Also expected to play plenty of defensive snaps is Davion Taylor, if, and it’s a big if, Taylor can stay healthy. It’s something the third-round pick from 2020 hasn’t been able to do in his first two seasons.
After those two, there is still Shaun Bradley, who like Reddick, is a Temple product, Patrick Johnson, JaCoby Stevens, and Christian Elliss.
Can any of them, Reddick and Singleton included, cover tight ends?
That could still be an issue and one the Eagles might address with a linebacker later in the draft, one who they believe might be able to do the job.
RELATED: Haason Reddick Fits Eagles' Defense - Sports Illustrated
Speaking of the draft, the Eagles will still take an edge rusher with one of their first-round picks on April 28 even after signing Reddick.
This draft is too good not to do so, and there is still a need for a young edge rusher.
Perhaps it changes who they take.
All indications coming out of the NFLK Scouting Combine two weeks ago was that they absolutely loved Michigan’s David Ojabo. And maybe they still do.
Ojabo’s skillset is similar to Reddick’s, a player who can be a threat off the edge as a standup linebacker.
Fact is, Ojabo’s game is still being refined after arriving to the game late. He was a junior in high school before picking up the game after moving from Scotland, where he played basketball and soccer, to Blair Academy in New Jersey when he was 15.
Maybe the addition of Reddick has the Eagles thinking along the line of Purdue’s George Karlaftis, a more traditional hammer that san be swung strictly from the outside.
Either way, expect the Eagles to grab an edge rusher on the opening night of the draft.
My biggest takeaway from the Reddick signing, though, is how cheaply he came.
Looking at the numbers – three years for $45 million with $30M guaranteed – may not give off that impression, but he has been one of the best at sacking the quarterback the last two years, with 23.5 of them over that time. That total is fifth-best in the league.
Given that, $15M per year on average, feels like a bargain.
Consistency in pass-rushing is a rare commodity in the league, and to get one at that number is either a good job of negotiating by Roseman or Reddick was willing to accept a little less in order to return to where he grew up in nearby Camden, N.J., and where he played college football at Temple.
It’s probably a little of both.
Whatever it was, it was a strong move on day one of the legal tampering period leading up to the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
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.
