New York Jets Defensive Coordinator Gives Ideal Response to Haason Reddick Situation

The New York Jets situation with Haason Reddick is one of the more interesting stories around football. The Pro Bowl edge rusher requested a trade earlier in the week, as the Jets and his representatives have yet to come to a contract agreement. It’s uncertain if anything happened behind the scenes, but with everything going on, it certainly feels like something outside of the contract is a factor here.

Whatever the case may be, there seems to be a good chance that Reddick isn’t going to play in a New York jersey this season.

While this hurts the Jets’ chances of winning a Super Bowl, as there’s no debate about the type of talent he has on the field, this could be a good thing in a few years. Perhaps some of the younger players on the roster who would’ve been blocked by Reddick will now get an opportunity to show if they can play at the NFL level.

Will McDonald, more than anyone, needs to take advantage of this opportunity. He was drafted in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft and has shown promise as a player in multiple ways. He should benefit the most from everything going on.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was asked about the Reddick situation and responded perfectly, speaking about the opportunity for McDonald and others with Peter Botte of the New York Post.

“For every single defensive end on this team, one less rep for the guy that could have been here is one more rep for all of these players,” Ulbrich said Wednesday on a Zoom call. “So it’s collectively, from a Will McDonald standpoint, from a Micheal Clemons standpoint, and every single one of the guys behind them, it’s a great opportunity, it really is. And they’re taking advantage of it.”

At the end of the day, all New York can worry about is who they have on the field right now. With the regular season starting in less than a month, the defensive players have no time to think about whether he will show up.

“For the guys that are here, we’re going to work, and try to be the defense that we want to become and are capable of becoming.”

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks, but all indications point to Reddick not being on the team and somebody else getting an opportunity to help this defense. In a Super Bowl or bust type of year, whoever gets a chance needs to run with it.