PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Emergency pod: Philadelphia Eagles grant Haason Reddick permission to seek a trade. What happens next?

Episode Date: February 11, 2024

PHLY's Zach Berman and Bo Wulf discuss the breaking news about Haason Reddick and why the Eagles would consider trading one of the NFL's best pass rushers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to an emergency podcast on a Sunday afternoon, Super Bowl Sunday, and the Eagles are trying to steal the headlines from the Chiefs and the 49ers. They want everybody to know that Hassan Reddick is searching out a deal. They have given him permission to seek a trade. Zach Berman, it's been way too long since we have spent an entire week together. How are you? Did you miss me? Have missed you. Doing well. Good to see you. Thought we would reconvene on Monday.

here the Eagles are making news on Super Bowl Sunday comparable. They've done this a few times. I recall the Nick Foles news came out on Super Bowl Sunday a few years ago, too. So we won't get into all of it today because we have a show tomorrow, but we'll give the people what they want. What's the bar? What's the bar for an emergency podcast that somebody wants to be traded? I think a pro bowl pass rusher, one of the best players on your team,

would reach that level. I guess. And predicted, by the way, not on the PHLY show, because we were going to do the stay or go, our version of it, flock or what's it? Flu world order. We'll be doing that. We'll be doing that. Well, yeah, we were doing that this week, so we were saving that. But we were on with Shield Kapati on Philly Special.

And he asked the two of us, the most likely player to be, or the kind of under the radar trade or the most likely player to be traded. And you said Hassan Redick then. So before we get into it, let's just. Thank you for acknowledging it in this format, even if you were unwilling to do so on Twitter. You have to respect Shil Kapadya, a man of great integrity who did go out of his way to give credit where credit was due. I will definitely give credit. Now, you were first in that exercise, so I can't just repeat the same answer. The excuses are the bricks that built the house of failure, my friend.

Okay. So here we go. So this is what we know. The Eagles have granted Hassan Reddick permission to seek a trade, first reported by NFL Network. Asan Reddick, who's entering the last year of his three-year deal. It's no secret. He's wanted a new contract. This was a story in training camp last year.

He played last year on a deal that he did sign, but that he also outperformed. And now he's going into year three. And he clearly is going to get a new deal, whether it's in Philly or somewhere else. So the Eagles are, this does not mean that it's like a fire sale. It's not a Sean Jackson situation where. it's like they'll take what they can get it and if not they're going to cut them right but uh they are allowing him to see what their value is the eagles have done this before they did this with darius sleigh last year they've done this with fletcher cox in the past right and it's basically if you want to see what the market has for you you go out and and see it uh and there's two things at play and one the eagles won't just get them away i think the the compensation in terms of what they receive needs to be of value and then also if it's a a deal that I think that if the Eagles can fit it in to their cap structure, then they would probably interest it in that, depending what the market is. But, and we'll get into this,

I think it's a bad situation when you're looking to trade, one of the best players on your team. Well, I don't know that this necessarily means that it's a bad situation, but I do think that this is a different situation than with Darius Slay last year for a couple of reasons. For one, I don't believe that Darius Lay was going, I don't believe he was ever going to get the deal that he was looking. Sure. And I don't believe that a team would have been giving up significant compensation that would have made it worthwhile for the Eagles to give up their best cornerback

for a team to trade for him at the age of 32 or whatever. Like he meant more to, he mattered more to the Eagles than he did to anybody else. I do believe that Hassan Reddick, who has the fourth most sacks in the NFL over the past four years, you know, the fifth most over the past three years. He's one of the only guys in the NFL who has double-digit sacks each of the past four seasons. He has the most sacks on a two-season stretch in Eagles history for anybody other than Reggie White and Clyde Simmons.

And he's only turning 30 in September, which is not for pass rushers a crazy cliff, not like it is for cornerbacks. You know, you saw the compensation that Von Miller got as a 32-year-old from the Rams. We can talk a little bit more about the specific compensation to expect on tomorrow's show. But I believe that there will be teams willing to give Hassan Reddick a new deal and compensation because he is that good of a player at that important of a position and the historical comps would tell you that that kind of deal would be out there. And I think there's a chance that it would be worthwhile for the Eagles to move on if they can get something like, you know, a future second that could turn into a fifth or a first rather.

Yeah, that's that's very good analysis there. And to to build upon that, the only three players with more sacks than him during this period are T.J. Watt, Miles Garrett and Trey Hendrickson. Right. Jay Watt and Trey Hendrickson are the same age as him. I don't think you can argue, like you mentioned, that age is the problem here. Pass rushers don't, they, their age curve is more favorable, right? Hassan Redick has been durable. He's missed only one game in his career. there's the question of scheme here.

And that's the other reason why I think that this is different than Darius Lay, because last year, Darryslai, I don't think really wanted to leave, whereas Hassan Reddick is probably incentivized to find a scheme that is going to let him rush the passer as much as he wants. And we know that he probably wasn't thrilled with the way he was used this year. And there's every expectation that in Vic Fangio scheme, he's not going to be pin your ears back and rush the passer 95% of the time. You know, he's going to have to be playing in space,

and that's going to dilute his sack numbers. And so unless he gets paid for those theoretical numbers on the front end, I think he is going to want to find this scheme that better suits him. I agree with you. I think that's a bad operating principle for the Eagles. I think, and I've written this if you are, if you're so rigid in your scheme that you can't find a way to maximize Hassan Reddick, then the problem is you and your scheme. It's not the player. Okay.

But we can get into that tomorrow. I think the other variable here that is a huge one, and we discussed this on the show, with shield and it cannot be discounted is Josh Sweat. Josh Sweat is also entering the last year of his deal. I believe that you do everything you can to pay your best players, and then it's kind of your B level and your C level players that you let go into free agency. But it is fair to say that it's going to be difficult for the Eagles to pay both Hassan Reddick and Josh Swet, what their market value is as edge rushers.

They signed both of those guys to below market deals. I can't imagine these next contracts are going to be below market. So therefore, they're going to have to make a choice. Do you go with Hassan Redick or do you go with Josh Sweat? That's why in that exercise last week, you said Hassan Redick, I followed up with Josh Sweat. It's this reality here that I think the Eagles are going to have to decide which one. And I think Hassan Redick knows this too, by the way, but probably. So that's the curious part here.

Which one do you want? Which one can fetch you more compensation? Which one fits better in your scheme? Which one fits better in your culture? But Hassan Redick is going to get paid one way or the other. I'm with you there. The Eagles have to determine if it's not, if,

if the compensation they receive is worth letting, is worth letting him go because there aren't that many players who can get to the quarterback like him. For whatever other limitations you mentioned in your game, that can be mentioned about his game. The reality is he's an elite pass rusher. And pass rushing is an elite skill set. And without having all of the information,

What would you do if you were the Eagles? Who would you rather have long-term, Josh Sweat or Hassan Redd? Well, I think that they can get more for Josh Sweat than Hassan. I don't know that I agree with that. I know that I don't think the league views him that way. Interesting. And Sheel thought the same thing that I thought. Yeah, I don't agree.

Yeah. So honestly, I would probably go with the one you can get more for. It's well documented that I like Japswet. But it's well documented that I like Hassan Redding. Ideally, you keep both and you figure out the rest. The Eagles kind of painted them into or they put themselves in a spot where they're paying two corners a lot of money, right? They're going to have to pay two receivers a lot of money. They're going to be paying two offensive tackles a lot of money.

They're going to be paying a guard a lot of money. They're paying a quarterback a lot of money. It's hard for them to pay two edge rushers now a lot of money given that. but I yeah if if you think red can can get you a first round pick or close to it and you keep sweat and you have confidence in that Nolan Smith can develop which is another variable here it would be hard to do because yeah because this is the other reality is that like compensation is all theoretical and even in practice you're not going to get a player that's better than Hassan Redick Eagles are positioned to win next year they are a worst team without Hassan Redick they are a worst team without Hassan Reddick they're are a worst team, you know, there's a big leap to get from Nolan Smith to Hassan Redick. So you have to have a plan in place. Where are you going to, are you going to generate a pass rushing? And you can't just say you have this new defensive scheme. You always pick the players over the scheme, right? Vic Fangio is not going to win you to Super Bowl. Your players are going to win you

the Super Bowl. So that's where I say that if you are moving on from Redick, you need to have a damn good plan in place to replace him. Yeah, I mean, if they trade either Hassan Redick or Josh Sweat, edge rusher immediately becomes like one of their top needs on the roster, right? Because Nolan Smith has not earned the confidence that he can be a starting player in a, you know, playoff caliber defense yet. I think they want them to do that, but there's there, we have not seen that at all. I think the more likely scenario if they traded Reddick wouldn't be for them to turn that over

to Nolan Smith. it would be for them to find a player who is emerging in free agency similar to how they identified Redick. Now, now Redick was more established, but someone like Bryce Huff, right? Like if you trade Reddick for a second round pick or a first round pick and then you sign Bryce Huff for 12 million a year and you think that he can become, let's say, 80% of the pass rusher that Hassan Reddick is and you get this other compensation and he's a younger player. Yeah, how he needs to have two, three moves. Or even if it's the, like if it's somebody on the downside of their career for, you know, one or two year deal, you're back filling it and hoping that Nolan Smith can take that job eventually. That would sort of make sense too. Yeah.

But look, you called this the other day. I'm not surprised that Redick's seeking a deal. But I think that it does not benefit the Eagles. So in order for them to trade him, they need to have a good plan in place. the compensation needs to be good, and they need to know that they're locking up Josh Sweb. All right. Well, we will have all of the show tomorrow at noon

on the P.H.O.Y. Eagles podcast to discuss this further. Zach, we closed the week of shows at the Super Bowl without giving our Super Bowl predictions. Would you like to go on the record with your Super Bowl prediction on this Sunday afternoon? Yeah, good call. I like this. Look. By the way, I ran into an Abram yesterday.

I heard. Had good things to say. Yeah. You asked him his favorite piece of content. He said me naming all the casinos in the strip in order. So it was a running joke on Birds with Friends and it will be on the PHLI show I imagine. The beginning of every year, I'm just like the chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, right? But there's a reason I do that because Patrick Mahomes is the best player in the league.

Andy Reid is the best coach in the league and they find ways to get it done. So I love this 49ers roster. I said that when the Eagles played the Niners. I think the Niners are loaded. I think they're well coached. but I'm not going to pick against Patrick Mahomes. I'm going with a close game. Chiefs 24, 49ers, 23.

Chiefs win on a late drive. Nice. I'm taking the Chiefs as well. I think when we spoke on Friday, I said 30 to 23, but I'm going a little bit lower scoring than that now. I'm going to say Chiefs 2417. Look forward to the game. Look forward to discussing it tomorrow.

Look forward to discussing it tomorrow and all of the host. Hassan Reddick possibilities. We'll talk about maybe some potential compensation. I don't think this necessarily means that Hassan Reddick is definitely out the door, but certainly the possibility exists. And you know that the agent has done a good job seating this out there on Super Bowl Sunday to get the most eyes possible, including on this emergency episode of the PHOI Eagles podcast. Thank you to everybody for listening and watching back with more all week on PHLY.

We will talk to you later. And as always, we love it. We're all sitting like the mayor