Philadelphia Eagles: Is it time to bring Haason Reddick home?

If there’s one free agent position the Philadelphia Eagles should seriously consider spending money on, it’s defensive end.

… okay, I guess investing in a high-end veteran wide receiver should probably be up there too, but for the sake of argument, let’s call defensive end the team’s biggest high-dollar defensive need. Why? Well, because the Birds haven’t had a consistent double-digit sacker off the edge since… Trent Cole?

But who could the Eagles target? Could the Birds go after the biggest name on the free agent market, Chandler Jones? Or how about former playoff foe Jadeveon Clowney, who had a pretty darn good year in Cleveland?

Well, in the opinion of NFL.com Senior Analyst Gil Brandt, the choice is obvious: The Philadelphia Eagles should sign Temple product Haason Reddick.

The Philadelphia Eagles would love to reintroduce Reddick to the Linc.

If there was ever a player perfectly suited to be a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, it would be Haason Reddick.

A native son of Camden, New Jersey, Reddick walked on at Temple University after largely being overlooked coming out of college and moved all over Matt Rhule‘s defense, first at safety before making the unconventional switch to defensive end. Once his days terrorizing Conference USA quarterbacks just off of Broad Street at the Linc were done, Reddick entered his name into the 2017 NFL Draft and was crossed-trained at off-ball linebacker at the Senior Bowl, a position many expected him to play at the NFL level.

Factor in a strong showing at the combine, with top-80th percentile measurables at the 3-cone drill, broad jump, vertical jump, and 40-yard dash, and it wasn’t so much if Reddick would hear his name called in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft – which was being held across the bridge from his hometown – but when. As it turns out, Reddick would come off the board one pick before his former stadium mates went on the clock, as the Arizona Cardinals opted to keep the collegiate Owl in a red uniform just before Derek Barnett earned his midnight green.

Would the Eagles have drafted Reddick if he was still on the board at 14? No, probably not; Howie Roseman likes drafting first-round linebackers about as much as the Sixers liked drafting point guards with ready-made 3 point shots from 2013-19, but who’d have thought Reddick would be one of only five players who recorded 20-plus total sacks and at least 10 sacks per year from 2020-21? Well, as Gil Brandt pointed out in his piece, Reddick did just that and did so on two different teams in two different roles.

Now granted, is Reddick a perfect fit with the Eagles? No. He’d be one of the lighter pure defensive ends in the NFL at 235 pounds, and while he’s a speeding bullet off the edge, his skill set is a tad redundant with that of Josh Sweat. But then again, Reddick has recorded more sacks than any player on the Eagles’ roster over the past two seasons, which is a level of production that can’t be ignored. Furthermore, who’s to say the Eagles have to use Reddick solely as a defensive end? Many expected to see much more optionality out of the front seven based on Jonathan Gannon’s preseason comments last summer. Could he ask a player like Reddick to drop into zone coverage from time to time to shake things up for opposing quarterbacks, or better yet, be moved around the defensive formation when Sweat and Brandon Graham are on the field to take advantage of mismatches?

If the team was willing to pay him $15.3 million a year – the number Spotrac predicts he will garner in free agency – they would surely have a very specific plan for what he can and can’t do.

Could the Philadelphia Eagles prove Gil Brandt prophetic and bring Haason Reddick home? Sure, he plays a position of need and has a proven track record of on-field success. Will Howie Roseman bring Reddick home? I mean probably not, as he’s not quite Howie Roseman’s prototype at defensive end, but hey, I’ve been wrong before. Either way, I remember watching Reddick pick up two sacks in his first game reunited with Matt Rhule at the Linc, and that’s a sight I’d love to see replicated for years to come… only with quarterbacks like Daniel Jones taking the punishment instead of Jalen Hurts.