After a disastrous ending to their season, the Philadelphia Eagles have already begun making massive changes this offseason. One more change could be the departure of one of their best players.
The Philadelphia Eagles reportedly have given permission to All-Pro edge rusher Haason Reddick to seek a trade this offseason.
Reddick, 27, was selected to his second straight Pro Bowl after completing a fourth straight season with double-digit sacks. His 11 sacks and 13 tackles for loss both led the Philadelphia Eagles, who suffered a late-season collapse and lost in the first round of the NFC playoffs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Reddick, who began his career in Arizona as the No. 13 overall pick in 2017, has played two seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles. He has one more year left on a three-year, $45 million contract he signed in March of 2022, and he carries the Eagles’ top salary cap number in 2024 at $21.877M, according to overthecap.com.
While there’s no guarantee that he will end up with a new team, Reddick’s departure would leave a gaping hole on the Eagles’ defense, which ranked 20th in sacks and were 31st against the pass.
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A Reddick trade would be a huge loss for Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles’ defense declined significantly from the year before, when the Eagles played in the Super Bowl. In 2022, the Eagles had the No. 1 pass defense and ranked first in sacks, and Reddick led the way with his best season with a career-high 16 sacks and five forced fumbles to earn a spot on the NFL’s All-Pro second team.
Last offseason, defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon left Philadelphia to become head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. In his place, the Eagles hired Sean Desai as defensive coordinator.
But after the Philadelphia Eagles began the season with an NFL-best 10-1 record, they lost five of their last six games. During their losing skid in December, they removed the defensive coordinator role from Desai and gave it to defensive assistant Matt Patricia, the former defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots.
With reports of finger-pointing and infighting, it seemed head coach Nick Sirianni had lost the locker room late in the season. But Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has retained Sirianni, who’s coached the Eagles to the playoffs for three consecutive seasons.
Apparently, one of the conditions of Sirianni staying was overhauling the coaching staff. Sirianni has hired veteran defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to replace Patricia, and he’s tapped Kellen Moore to replace Brian Johnson as offensive coordinator.
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Despite the change to Fangio, it appears Reddick wants to take his services elsewhere, and there are no lack of teams who would want an edge rusher with Reddick’s talent and productivity
One possibility could be a return to Arizona to play for Gannon, under whom Reddick enjoyed his most productive season.