Cardinals Can't Make Mistake With Haason Reddick

The Arizona Cardinals need plenty of help along the defensive line, and targeting a top free agent should be something general manager Monti Ossenfort does.

But this particular former Cardinals defender is a name Ossenfort shouldn't pursue too intensely.

Edge rusher Haason Reddick might have been a notable candidate to join Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon after he put forward two excellent back-to-back double-digit sack seasons, but those days could be far in the rearview mirror.

It doesn't come as much of a shock Reddick's decision to join the New York Jets didn't pan out. The veteran pass rusher held out through camp and the first seven weeks of the NFL season after coming over to New York from the Philadelphia Eagles in a trade.

Reddick eventually did play, but only played 10 games, and only started two of them, despite being one of the de facto best pass rushers on the Jets' struggling defense.

He played just 392 snaps, and recorded a mere 14 total tackles after returning. He ended his 2024 campaign with just two half sacks - made seven weeks apart.

This awarded Reddick a poor 53.5 overall PFF grade. While these grades aren't everything, there was a notable lack of explosiveness in Reddick's game.

Whether that was due to a decline in ability, or rather just a product of a dysfunctional organization and system might be up for debate, but Reddick is now over 30 years old, and commanded $15 million per year.

If you're counting along at home, that's $7.5 million per half sack, and nearly $600,000 per pressure (26).

Granted, his market has likely shrunk as a result of his poor 2024, and his best career season came with Gannon as his defensive coordinator in Philadelphia in 2022 - racking up 16 sacks an making a Pro Bowl appearance.

That campaign is now three years past. While it's not impossible to say that Gannon could help Reddick rediscover his juice, neither Gannon nor Ossenfort have displayed much of a stomach for off-field drama.

Considering how dysfunctional the Jets have been, generally speaking, it's possible the off-field issues were less Reddick's fault than it may appear, but the fact that there was such a drama surrounding the veteran is likely an immediate deterrent, regardless of the relationship Gannon might still have with him.

That's not an attempt to attack Reddick's character, but it simply doesn't make sense for the Cardinals to invest any significant resources for a player who was not only the center of a negative offseason narrative, but also just didn't produce.

Reddick's last stint with the Cardinals ended less than positively. While that beef might have been with the previous regime, and still isn't necessarily an indictment of Reddick as an individual, it's best to stay away from those questions while in the middle of rebuilding both a culture and a young roster.

The Cardinals need to make a serious investment on the defensive line - both interior and edge, and Reddick just isn't a serious choice for the time being. Perhaps he'll prove that to be false in 2025, but it shouldn't be with the Cardinals.