The latest sign that the Jets can’t have anything nice is that Pro Bowl pass rusher Haason Reddick has requested a transfer. He did so before ever playing a down for New York.
Unfortunately, this is all too familiar for Jets fans.
News of Reddick’s transfer request broke on Monday when he sat out training camp even longer. General manager Joe Douglas immediately responded that the Jets will not comply with that request and that they intend to impose the full penalty allowed under the collective bargaining agreement on Reddick as long as he continues to hold out.
The news dampens the hopes in New York that had Jets fans believing, not without reason, in their chances of making a Super Bowl. Aaron Rodgers is back, leading a squad with a deep pool of talent and a defense that is considered elite.
Reddick was a key part of that defensive projection after arriving in the offseason via a trade from the Philadelphia Eagles. Reddick, a two-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro in 2022, has recorded at least 11 sacks in each of the last four seasons, including 16 in 2022.
Reddick joined the Jets in April to much fanfare. He hasn’t reported to a Jets workout since. Reddick is approaching the final year of a three-year, $45 million contract that he maxed out. He wanted an extension before he arrived in New York, and he still has. The two sides haven’t come to terms on that, and now the Jets are left with the promise of another season that could be dashed before it even begins.
This isn’t new territory in New York. Here’s a look back at some of the most devastating moments when Jets fans had the rug pulled out from under them.
Bill Belichick retires and then builds a dynasty in New England
The New York Jets’ 2000 season held much promise. After Bill Parcells resigned, his defensive coordinator and protégé Bill Belichick – a brilliant defensive strategist with coveted NFL head coaching prospects – was set to take over.
Belichick accepted the head coaching position in January 2000 and had scheduled a press conference for the next day to introduce him as head coach. Instead, this happened.
“Due to various uncertainties regarding my position related to the team’s new ownership, I have decided to resign from my position as head coach of the New York Jets,” Belichick told reporters.
And that was that. The Jets were going through an ownership change from Leon Hess to Woody Johnson, and Belichick decided he didn’t want to be a part of it. Weeks later, Belichick took the head coaching position with the New England Patriots.
This decision changed the landscape and history not only of the Jets and the AFC East, but of the entire NFL. And not to the Jets’ advantage.
Belichick, of course, went on to have a 24-year Hall of Fame career in New England that included six Super Bowl victories, with his Patriots constantly tormenting the Jets and their fans. And just like Reddick, Belichick decided it was better to get out before his first official day on the job.
‘Butt fondling’
Despite Belichick’s retirement, the 2000s were not all doom and gloom for the Jets. It was a time of relative success for a beleaguered franchise that had not played in a Super Bowl since winning its third Super Bowl in 1969.
The Jets made the playoffs six times from 2001-2010, including back-to-back AFC Championship games with Mark Sanchez at quarterback in 2009 and 2010. Sanchez joined the Jets in 2009 as a promising first-round rookie out of USC. While he didn’t blow the NFL away as a passer, he proved competent enough to lead the Jets deep into the playoffs.
That performance didn’t last long, though. By Thanksgiving 2012, the Jets were off to a 4-6 start and on the verge of missing the playoffs for the second year in a row, until one of the most infamous plays in NFL history prevented them from making the cut.
With the Jets trailing 14-0 to the Patriots in the second quarter, Sanchez took a first-down snap, then ran right into the butt of right guard Brandon Moore and dropped the ball. Safety Steve Gregory picked it up and returned it for a Patriots touchdown. The “butt fumble” was born.
In the second quarter, the Patriots scored 35 points and New England won 49-19. The Jets finished the season with four losses in their last six games and a record of 6-10.
Sanchez’s career never recovered. He retired from the Jets after the 2012 season and started 11 more NFL games for three different teams over the next six seasons. The Jets have not made the playoffs since.
After the failed Sanchez era, the Jets looked to Geno Smith for their next quarterback career. They selected Smith from West Virginia in the second round of the 2013 draft and made him their starter the following season.
Smith’s first two NFL seasons were, to put it generously, a mixed bag. He completed 57.5% of his passes, with 25 touchdowns and 34 interceptions in 30 games. The Jets went 11-18 in games he started.
But he showed improvement and promise toward the end of his sophomore season, leading a 37-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins in the 2014 season finale. Smith completed 20 of 25 passes for 358 yards that day, with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. That resulted in a perfect passer rating of 158.3 and was cause for excitement ahead of the 2015 season.
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Then Smith got punched in the face. During training camp in 2015, Jets linebacker IK Enemkpali punched Smith in the face in the New York locker room, as coach Todd Bowles described it. Enemkpali was promptly released. Smith suffered a broken jaw, costing him his season and giving Ryan Fitzpatrick the starting spot.
Smith started one more game for the Jets before leaving the franchise and playing as a backup for the New York Giants, Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks until he got another chance to start in Seattle in 2022, his ninth NFL season and his third with the Seahawks.
This year, Smith delivered on the promise that earned him a second-round pick in 2013 and earned him the first of two consecutive Pro Bowl berths. Was the delayed breakthrough the result of a lack of opportunity? Would Smith otherwise have made the jump in his third season with the Jets? We’ll never know, thanks to Enemkpali’s fist.
Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles tendon
After the complete failure of the Zach Wilson era, the Jets have found a safe bet in the NFL by signing four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Jets acquired Rodgers from the Packers ahead of the 2023 draft in the hope that he would be the final building block for a squad that was supposed to compete for the Super Bowl.
We all know what happened next. Rodgers didn’t make it through his first possession with New York before a torn Achilles sustained on Monday Night Football ended his 2023 season in his debut for the Jets. The Wilson era was renewed en route to a 7-10 finish and another postseason on the sidelines.
Rodgers is now healthy and in training camp. The Jets are hoping that at age 40 he can get back into shape after tearing his Achilles tendon. If he can do that, the Jets have a chance.
That chance will dwindle if the Jets can’t get Reddick to work.
Reddick and the Jets could still agree on a deal. And losing Reddick to a contract deadlock wouldn’t be a fatal blow to New York’s season. But it would be the latest example of a familiar refrain of disappointment that has become ingrained in Jets culture over the decades.
