Sources: Jets and Haason Reddick dug into contract standoff that could reach regular season
Could Reddick follow game plan as Chiefs' Chris Jones?
The previously low-key gridlocked contract impasse between the New York Jets and pass rusher Haason Reddick became a much more public affair Monday. And barring a change in a prideful standoff, it will get worse before it gets better, sources familiar with the contract dispute told Yahoo Sports, describing a stiff stalemate that has reached a bottom line for each camp that could result in Reddick holding out through the remainder of preseason and potentially beyond.
On one side of the negotiating table, the Jets and general manager Joe Douglas are insisting that Reddick report to the team’s training camp in a “good faith” effort to get an agreement on the rails. On the other side, Reddick has refused through his representation, seeking a contract offer that elevates his pay into the upper echelon of the league’s best pass rushers.
As of late last week, neither Reddick or the Jets were budging from their stances, leading to the revelation of a trade request on Monday, which was quickly rebuffed publicly by Douglas and the Jets.
Asked if the situation was irreparable, one source familiar with the talks said the deadlock was fixable, but not without some kind of compromise that could build an element of negotiating trust between the two sides.
“There’s some pride [involved],” the source said.
The Jets traded a conditional 2026 third-round draft pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Reddick in March, with the belief that he’d report to offseason activities under the final year of his current deal, which is slated to pay him $14.25 million. A source said the team’s braintrust was caught by surprise when Reddick skipped all of the Jets' offseason work, despite taking a physical following the trade and then taking part in an upbeat introductory news conference in April.
At that news conference, Reddick sounded like he was prepared to move forward with the Jets, remarking, “Whatever happens, I’m gonna be happy.”
“I’m gonna give my all no matter what — that’s just who I am as a person,” Reddick said in April. “No matter how it goes, how many years, I’m gonna be here for however long I’m here for, and I’m going to give the team and the fans everything that I have.”
Following that news conference, Reddick eventually skipped the Jets’ organized team activities and mandatory minicamp, then failed to report to training camp in Florham Park in July. As of this week, the holdout has tallied $1.7 million in fines and counting via a collectively bargained penalty of $50,000 per day that will last into the regular season. Once the regular season begins, Reddick will begin forfeiting game checks for each week missed.
Following the public airing of his trade demand Monday, Douglas issued a statement that the Jets do not plan to oblige the request.
“We have informed Haason that we will not trade him, that he is expected to be here with his teammates and that he will continue to be fined per the CBA if he does not report,” Douglas said. “Since the trade discussions back in March, we have been clear, direct and consistent with our position. Our focus will remain on the guys we have here as we prepare for the regular season.”
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A source who spoke to Yahoo Sports said Reddick could take a similar path as Kansas City Chiefs star Chris Jones, who in 2023 engaged in a lengthy holdout while entering the final year of a four-year deal in 2023. During that standoff, Jones held out for the totality of the preseason and one regular-season game before agreeing on a new long-term contract with the team.
The financial repercussions: Jones missed a $500,000 workout bonus, then incurred a $98,000 fine for missing mandatory minicamp and another $2 million in training camp fines. He also forfeited a $1.08 million game check for missing Week 1. Ultimately, Jones and the Chiefs agreed to a revised deal that paid him $19.5 million in base salary (before the fine for his game check) plus a slew of incentives. All told, he earned $22.6 million for 2023, which was a modest bump over his original $20 million salary. The next offseason, he signed a massive five-year deal worth nearly $159 million, with $101 million in salary guarantees.
Whether Reddick will have similar success remains to be seen, but the Jets appear to be prepared to hold firm in their stance. It’s worth noting that in the “nuclear option” event that Reddick holds out the entirety of the 2024 season, his contract would toll into 2025, giving the Jets his rights an additional year for the same $14.25 million salary, minus whatever fines he has incurred at that point.
The Eagles traded Reddick to the Jets in order to avoid this very same impasse, knowing they would not be willing to fulfill an extension demand that was expected to average upward of $25 million per season. However, the Eagles are in line for some consequences if the standoff between Reddick and the Jets is not resolved, as the 2026 third-round pick was tied to performance escalators in the 2024 season that could have improved the position to a second-round choice.
