Bucs OLB Haason Reddick.
Yes, Joe fully understands the summer is talking season in the NFL. Players talk high platitudes about how they will spark a team to a Super Bowl run.
There was something different about free agent signee Haason Reddick. At first, Joe thought he did a helluva sales job with saying how he wanted to help his younger edge rushers out and hopes to help them become respected pass rushers.
OK, great. Still, Joe had a whiff that the sales job was a bit too hard.
Then Anthony Nelson told Joe about ways Reddick was working behind the scenes to do just what he promised to do.
Maybe Reddick really is the real thing?
A lot of Bucs fans bring up Reddick’s lost season with the Jets where he was basically a no-show after getting traded by Philadelphia. These same fans think Reddick quit, which is a damning word to use to a star NFL player.
But Mike Tanier seems to think there is a kernel of truth to this.
Tanier, typing for Aaron Schatz’s FTN Football Almanac 2025, got a bad taste in his mouth about Reddick’s time at the Swamplands for the Jets.
Joe puts stock in Tanier’s words. Why? Tanier is sort of an Eagles beat guy. Tanier, who once taught Joe Flacco math in high school, is no stranger to the media workroom with the Eagles as he lives just across the river in Jersey.
It’s not uncommon for Tanier to be seen at an Eagles practice or an Eagles game. So Tanier has strong intel when it comes to the Eagles.
So what Tanier typed about Reddick made Joe frown.
Edge rusher Haason Reddick is a big name who lost his desire to play football after getting traded to the Jets last year: understandable, perhaps, but also a sign that he cannot be counted upon for another double-digit sack season like in 2020 through 2023. Still, Reddick should at least offset the loss of Tryon-Shoyinka.
Yes, Joe can understand how Reddick was deflated over getting traded to the Jets. Reddick thought he was going to be on a strong playoff team. Instead, he ended up with a circus of a rotten franchise and Reddick had no say in the matter.
Still, there is a reason NFL players are called professionals. Think Lavonte David wanted to be mired in losing with the Bucs during the Lost Decade? Of course not, but he still busted his tail. Every week. Usually in a loss.
Same with Mike Evans.
Professionals suck it up and go about earning their pay.
On the bright side here, hearing from Ronde Barber and Nelson how Reddick is a fantastic team guy, Joe sure hopes Reddick’s return to a winning franchise rejuvenates his football passion.