Eagles addition of Haason Reddick earns rave reviews from trusted sources

It hasn’t been the explosive offseason that everyone had hoped they’d see from the Philadelphia Eagles so far. We’ve envisioned vice president/general manager Howie Roseman fumbling around his desk at the NovaCare Complex in search of the detonator but being unable to find it.

Most envisioned that we’d see a few familiar faces leave at the dawn of the new league year, and then, Philly would compensate by making maybe one or two splash signings before adding some fresh talent in the NFL Draft and then filling any remaining holes they had with some bargain signings later. Instead, much of the newfound spending money was used to bring many of those familiar faces we thought we’d move on from back into the fold (Greg Ward, Boston Scott, Andre Chachere, Anthony Harris).

The Eagles have been criticized for a quiet offseason as a result, but this hasn’t been a total failure. They satisfied a huge need at EDGE with the acquisition of Haason Reddick. That’s a move that’s been praised since its announcement, and recently, that praise has spread to a national level.

ESPN experts call the Eagles signing of Haason Reddick the NFL’s best offseason addition.

Recently, ESPN assembled some of their top NFL voices to weigh on offseason topics ranging from the best and worst signings during the free-agency period, the teams that have most improved, value deals, and gut reactions among other things.

Matt Bowen and Seth Walder both believe that the Eagles’ acquisition of Haason Reddick was the best free-agent signing of the offseason so far. Here’s what both had to say in reference to making that statement.

We begin with Bowen:

"Haason Reddick to the Eagles. He can set the edge as a strongside linebacker in the Eagles’ base defense and then drop down to rush the passer in sub packages. Reddick has an electric first step, with the ability to bend/flatten off the edge. Philly landed a disruptor here."

Here’s Walder’s take. He says Ressick’s signing comes with “a ton of green flags”.

"(Haason Reddick has had) back-to-back seasons of double-digit sack production, produced for multiple teams, a top-10 pass rush win rate last year, and he’s only 27. It made him, in my estimation, the top free-agent pass-rusher available. And while Reddick’s contract wasn’t cheap, it also wasn’t overly expensive at what could be either $30 million over two years or $45 million over three."

In his first five NFL seasons, four with the Arizona Cardinals and the most recent with the Carolina Panthers, Reddick has 80 in-game appearances with 47 starts on his resume. That’s resulted in 323 tackles. 199 of those have been of the solo variety. 45 have resulted in a loss of yardage. Add that to 31 sacks, 50 additional quarterback hits, 11 forced fumbles, and 15 pass breakups.

During his career, he’s been on the opposite sideline from the Eagles three times. He’s lost two of those games, including the most recent in Week 5 of the 2021 NFL season as a member of the Carolina Panthers. In that one, he tallied eight total tackles and two sacks.

Thankfully, he’s on Philly’s side now. It should be fun to watch him team up with Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, and Derek Barnett. That Eagles pass rush should be a huge asset in 2022.