Don’t Rule Out The Eagles Trading Josh Sweat And Haason Reddick
Howie Roseman has been busy early in free agency. To this point, fans seem to love everything he has been doing. Bryce Huff, Saquon Barkley, CJ Gardner Johnson. All of those moves, on top of extending a couple of their own guys. But there is one dark cloud hanging over the Novacare Facility. The rumors surrounding Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat.
Apparently, both of them are on the trade market. On paper, it feels unlikely they trade both of them. But on paper, it didn’t feel like they would pay Barkley. The smoke there wound up being true. So we cant rule out that they will pull the trigger on trading both of their edge rushers too.
To start, Howie was incredibly noncommital when talking about Reddick at the NFL Combine. When it comes to Devonta Smith, Howie came out and said he is a guy they don’t want to lose. But he was almost coy when someone asked about Reddick.
“I think that anything you’re trying to do, you’re trying to blend obviously what you’re trying to do this year and how you’re going to look in the future. I think that’s the hardest job. Certainly, [I] don’t want to get into any specifics with any conversations with players, but [I] have tremendous respect for the player and the person.”- Howie Roseman
From there rumors continued to swirl about Reddick’s future here. Josh Sweat, who is in the last year of his deal, was dragged into trade talks recently too. Their first move in free agency was singing Bryce Huff from the Jets. He could make 1 of those 2 guys expendable. But the Eagles might see a guy already on the roster as the replacement for the other.
Relying On Nolan Smith
James Palmer joined The Best Show Ever today and talked about how the Eagles are putting a lot of faith in Nolan Smith going into year 2.
“They are relying on a big jump from Nolan Smith in year 2. They see a player who can really make some damage getting after the QB. There were times in training camp when I was talking to people there where he was unblockable. The athleticism and the speed off the edge, there were times they were like ‘Oh my gosh.’ But as the season went on… when it broke down they saw he needs to get stronger…”- James Palmer
This falls in line with what Howie has said about Smith. Howie talked about needing to give more snaps to young guys, specifically with Smith in mind. Palmer is not the first person to talk about the Eagles’ apparent faith in Smith either. Multiple reporters have come onto our station and talked about how the Eagles may be high on Smith, even after struggling in year one.
Combine that, with the rumors surrounding Reddick and Sweat, and a pattern emerges. Perhaps the Eagles see them as expendable because they already have Smith waiting in the wings.
Is that smart? We don’t know. Right now we have no clue if Smith is good enough to be an elite edge rusher like Reddick already is. We do know that the Eagles believe he is that type of player though.
Will They Be Moved?
It all could be a smokescreen. This could be Howie playing hardball with Haason Reddick, hoping to gain leverage over him for when they do renegotiate his deal. That is what he did with Slay last season. Reddick will not be back on the same deal though. They are either signing a new deal, or he is gone. If Howie doesn’t want to pay him what he is asking for, but someone else out there is willing, they may have to trade him.
As for Sweat, he is a player coming off a down year, and on the final year of his contract. Bryce Huff may just be his replacement as they prepare to trade for him.
There is smoke here though. They might trade one of them or both of them. We might see an Edge duo of Bryce Huff and Nolan Smith next year. We might see them add another player in free agency, or in the draft. Laiatu Latu is a somewhat popular player to mock to them in the draft. The point is that their D-Line room could look very different.
These rumors are not nothing. People in the know are lending the reports credence. Howie’s own words suggest something is up. And their actions suggest they are ready to move on from at least one of Haason Reddick or Josh Sweat, if not both. Eagles fans should prepare themselves for that potentially happening.
Is putting that much faith in a 2nd year player with no production, and a player coming off his one breakout year smart? Maybe not. But the Eagles clearly believe in Nolan Smith. Howie wants him to play more snaps this season. Moving Reddick and Sweat might be part of that plan.
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