Legendary Coach Praises Eagles Leadership for Dumping Holdout Star on Jets

Bill Belichick has ties to both the New York Jets and the New England Patriots. So, on a week like this, it makes sense for the future Hall-of-Fame coach to do the media rounds.

Earlier this week former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady joined Belichick, along with Maxx Crosby, Peter King and Jim Gray on the “Let’s Go!” podcast. Brady was previously one of the hosts of the show.

Brady’s appearance allowed he and his former coach to talk about old times and to talk about what’s going on in the NFL right now.

The fact that the Jets (1-1) and the Patriots (1-1) are playing on Thursday was perfect timing to talk about one of the issues that is currently vexing New York — the Haason Reddick holdout.

The Pro Bowl pass rusher hasn’t reported to the Jets since the trade that shipped him from the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year. In spite of surrendering a reported $8 million in bonuses, fines and paychecks, Reddick appears to be sticking to his guns.

And, even with the season-ending injury to Jermaine Johnson, Jets general manager Joe Douglas hasn’t budged on his strategy, which is that Reddick won’t get the extension he wants until he reports.

Well, Belichick had a take, and it favored the Eagles, led by their GM, Howie Roseman.

“You look at a team like Philadelphia … they’ve also put together a pretty good roster,” Belichick said in a comment collected by the Philadelphia Inquirer. “They continue to make great moves, like signing Bryce Huff and trading away [Haason] Reddick, giving that problem to somebody else.”

Now, Huff — who played for New York before joining Philadelphia — hasn’t exactly set the world on fire after two games. He only has one tackle. With the Jets he had 17.5 sacks in four seasons.

But, at least Huff is playing. Reddick hasn’t darkened the door of the Jets’ facility since the trade and there doesn’t appear to be any end in sight.

He is in the final year of a three-year, $45 million deal that he signed with the Eagles. The Jets inherited the deal after they were unable to re-work it before the trade with Philadelphia.

Last season with Philadelphia he finished with 11 sacks, 23 quarterback hits and 13 tackles for loss, leading to a second straight Pro Bowl nod. In 2022, he had career highs with 16 sacks and 26 quarterback hits. He also forced an NFL-best five fumbles that season.

In the past four years he has amassed 51 sacks. Only Trey Hendrickson (53), Myles Garrett (58) and T.J. Watt (62) have more sacks in that span. He is also one of seven defensive players with a streak of at least four season of 10 or more sacks in the past 10 years.

He also leads the NFL in forced fumbles (15) and strip sacks (13) in that span.