Jeff ‘Rat’ McLane accuses Haason Reddick of chasing sacks, says it played role in trading him

Philadelphia Inquirer Eagles beat writer and known Rat Jeff McLane appeared on 97.5 Wednesday morning to talk about the Haason Reddick trade from over the weekend.

Luckily for you, I wasted 10 minutes of my day to listen to it so you don’t have to. Long story short, he provided no useful insight on the deal and why the Eagles decided to go through with it. But he did add one little tidbit for us to chew on. Apparently, the Eagles were concerned that Reddick was “chasing sacks.” They didn’t like that Reddick was trying to get sacks, according to Jeff.

Eagles weren’t fans of all the sacks Haason Reddick was getting (per Jeff)

𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: There may have been some concerns of former #Eagles pass rusher Haason Reddick “chasing” sacks in order to get a larger contract, says @Jeff_McLane

“I think there were some concerns about him chasing sacks. I don't know that is what specifically Fletcher Cox… pic.twitter.com/Gh5437zndh

— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) April 3, 2024

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I know what Jeff was trying to say here. What he should’ve said was, “Haason Reddick would cut inside in an attempt to get sacks on plays where his assignment was to keep contain. Quarterbacks were able to escape to his side, especially later in the season, because of this.” See, I know a thing or two about ball.

But Jeff’s miswording here doesn’t exonerate this sentiment. The Eagles didn’t get rid of Haason Reddick because he was trying to get sacks and occasionally broke assignment. If that were true, Josh Sweat would’ve gotten traded too, because he did it just as much (if not more) than Reddick down the stretch last season.

The defensive scheme was so bad that these guys were just trying to make splash plays to compensate for it. That’s all there really is to it.

It’s not that difficult to see why the Eagles got rid of Reddick — even if I don’t necessarily agree with it. He wanted more money than the Eagles were willing to spend on him. It’s as simple as that. Chances are, he’s going to sign an extension with New York and get about $20-$25 million per year.

Although the Eagles clearly value that position, they can’t dump all of their money into it. They signed Bryce Huff this offseason, they have Josh Sweat for at least one more season, and they’ve invested valuable draft capital into their defensive line over the past two seasons.

Haason Reddick is obviously a very good player and I honestly wish we kept him. But this idea that the team didn’t like their prized pass rusher trying to sack the quarterback is nonsense. It makes zero sense. And the more you think about it, the dumber it gets.