Buccaneers edge rusher Haason Reddick addresses offseason concerns

New Tampa Bay Buccaneers edge rusher Haason Reddick is well aware of the chatter around his arrival in Tampa Bay and his attempted holdout with the New York Jets last year. But he's not focused on any of that.

Reddick didn't show up during OTAs in Tampa Bay despite needing to learn a new system with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He signed a one-year, $14 million deal in the offseason, and Buccaneers fans questioned his absence after his attempt to get a bigger payday in New York resulted in a holdout and just one sack across the year.

He wasn't afraid to address those concerns. He said that he works out alone during that time of the offseason all the time, and that Bucs fans should never have been worried about his conditioning or motivation in the first place.

"I know everybody was concerned about me not showing up for OTAs, but for me, I definitely made sure to stay in shape and I think I showed it to everybody out here — I don't think it should have been a question," Reddick said. "I had some things to button up on as I made my transition down here, I don't have to worry about nothing back up there."

Reddick has a lot to prove. That one sack in 2024 was a big departure from 2020-23, where he put together 50.5 sacks in four years, and he'll be looking to show the Bucs that he's worth his contract. Some believed that Reddick's desire to be traded from the Eagles to the Jets in 2024 in hopes of a bigger deal reflected poorly on him, but he made

"I am motivated, but not for that type of stuff," Reddick said. "I don't care what people think about me, to be honest. People can say whatever they want — it's your opinion, and you're entitled to it," Reddick said, "Then you talk about things like that, as long as I'm in a great place, a safe space and my mental is strong, that's the only thing that I'm worried about."

Tampa Bay's edge rushing room could become dangerous if Reddick lives up to expectations, especially with budding star Yaya Diaby on the other side of the line. Reddick mentioned he has a lot to teach Diaby, but that he can feed off of the younger players in the room, too.

"To be honest, he’s been helping me out on a little bit of things as far as, ‘Look, you got this on this play, we got that on these,’ as far as the new installs," Reddick said. "You can see that as young as he is, he’s transitioning into being a vet."