Eagles general manager Howie Roseman had his annual pre-draft press conference on Tuesday afternoon and fielded plenty of questions about next week’s draft.
But this was also the first time Roseman had spoken publicly since trading Pro Bowl edge rusher Haason Reddick to the Jets.
“Great player. Haason had a great two years in Philadelphia,” Roseman said. “Obviously, Camden kid, played at Temple, couldn’t have been more excited to sign him. It’s bittersweet to lose a player and person like that.
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“As the offseason went along and we added Bryce (Huff), who we’re incredibly excited about, brought back Josh (Sweat), drafted Nolan Smith in the first round, [Brandon Graham] came back, we have some young guys at that position that we’re excited to develop. And through the conversations with the Jets, we felt like it was a win-win situation. But always hard to get rid of players and people like Haason.”
As a reminder, the Eagles traded Reddick for a 2026 third-round pick that can become a second-rounder if Reddick plays at least 67.5% of the Jets’ defensive snaps in 2024 and has at least 10 sacks.
While Reddick has hit those benchmarks in each of his last four seasons, it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll be able to do that again in 2024. And that type of return might not seem like enough for a star player in his prime.
So a little later after fielding that first question about Reddick, Roseman on Tuesday was asked a follow-up by a reporter about the upside of trading away a very good edge rusher in his prime for the pick the Eagles got. Roseman took umbrage with the phrasing of the question.
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“I think you’re asking a question in a vacuum without all the other factors,” Roseman said. “If we want to talk about all the other factors that go into building the team and the resources that went into each position, we can do that. But I don’t think the question is really fair and accurately describes the transaction.”
Some of those factors were already listed above. The Eagles seemed prepared for the possibility of losing one of their starting edge rushers and jumped at the chance to add Huff — who came from the Jets — on a three-year, $51 million deal as free agency began.
Once the Eagles landed Huff, it seemed more likely that either Reddick or Sweat would not return. And after the Eagles reached an agreement on a restructured one-year deal with Sweat to keep him around, Reddick ended up being the odd-man out.
Reddick, 29, is set to enter the final year of the three-year, $45 million contract he signed with the Eagles in the 2022 offseason. With 27 sacks in two years, Reddick clearly outperformed that contract and wanted a new deal, which led to the Eagles’ granting him permission to seek a trade. It’s worth noting that Reddick has not gotten a new deal from the Jets yet.
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