It’s a happy camp on Day 1, but missing pass rusher threatens good vibes
IT’S THE Same Old Song every NFL team sings as training camps begins, it’s the Same Old Song the Jets have been singing even before Broadway Joe left the scene, the Same Old Song they have been singing from the summer of 1969 to now.
It is a song of hope, of belief, of possibility, and you can sing it all day long in the summer, when you haven’t lost a single more game or won a single game fewer than Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and the two-time defending champion Chiefs. And when Aaron Rodgers is walking among you again.
“We got a great quarterback who sets the standard every single day, man,” Quinnen Williams said.
The standards of excellence and greatness.
“Expectations are high, they always will be high, no matter what the season was before or what’s going on,” Tyler Conklin said. “I think that’s also like the beauty of playing here, expectations no matter what, are so high.”
A year ago, the Giants could sing the Same Old Song when Saquon Barkley begrudgingly reported to training camp with a contract he didn’t like one bit.
Alas, when the Jets began singing the Same Old Song on Tuesday, it sounded somewhat off key.
Aaron Rodgers wasn’t in Egypt, but Haason Reddick may as well have been.
Because he is a surprise contract holdout.
And he is the prized pass rusher who GM Joe Douglas acquired for a conditional 2026 pick to replace Bryce Huff.
No one was able to hear any Same Old Jets chorus rehearsing in the distance, mostly because Rodgers is back from Egypt and back from the Achilles ... but Douglas will need to get this resolved before the baby elephant in the room grows into a Harder Than Hard Knocks distraction in a playoffs-or-bust season for the regime.
Lawrence Taylor ended a 45day holdout four days before the 1990 regular-season opener and recorded three sacks with a forced fumble against the Eagles when he was 31. Reddick will be 30 in September. He isn’t Lawrence Taylor.
So it isn’t necessarily the end of the world that Reddick, who was an OTA and minicamp no-show, won’t be on the field on Wednesday for the first training camp practice.
That’s the Jets story for now, and they’ll be sticking to it, because when you’ve missed the playoffs 13 years running, what choice do they really have?
“I know how Joe Douglas and Coach [Robert] Saleh and all those guys work,” Williams said. “Knowing him as a great competitor and a great person who wants to be here, who wants to win championships, I know he’s going to get things ironed out.”
Worst-case scenario would be an impasse that would have a domino effect in which Jermaine Johnson would be asked to as
cend to the No. 1 edge role and Will McDonald would be asked to make the second-year leap that Johnson made a year ago.
No one wanted to think about that on Tuesday. Reddick, who is due to make $14.25 million in the last year of his deal, has recorded 50.5 sacks across the past four seasons.
“When he steps on this field, man, he changes the whole aura just because he’s a guy that can put up 15-plus sacks a year, 10-plus sacks a year and different things like that,” Williams said, “So l’m just blessed to have him on my side.”
Reddick could wake up at 3 in the morning and sack the quarterback, but getting in football shape is another matter entirely.
“He’s a Hall of Fame MVP-caliber edge rusher,” Williams said. “It’s gonna be like riding a bike for him, because we got so many great defensive linemen in our room, so many great coaches in our room to help him come up to speed and do the things that he gotta do to fit in with us.”
It is troubling that captain C.J. Mosley had not spoken with Reddick.
“When you deal with contract and things like that, it doesn’t really get to the locker room because we don’t control that,” Mosley said.
“We know he’s a pro, he’s been at the highest level of competition, so l’m sure whenever that gets worked out, he’ll be here ready to roll. So when he gets here, it’ll just be another great player to add to our defensive line.”
A healthy Rodgers. A healthy Hall of Fame left tackle in Tyron Smith. A healthier Breece Hall and a stronger Garrett Wilson.
“To complete the culture is to win a Super Bowl,” Mosley said.
To complete an elite defense is signing Haason Reddick. And then singing a far different song than the one you’ve been singing in so many falls and winters.