After sitting out seven games, Haason Reddick will finally be on the field in a Jets uniform Sunday against the Patriots.
The former Eagles linebacker, who ended his contract holdout Sunday and reported to the team Monday, went through a walk-through Wednesday and two full practices Thursday and Friday.
The Jets wanted to give Reddick a few days to settle in before confirming his availability.
After Friday’s practice, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich confirmed Reddick is set for Sunday.
“He had a good week with us,” Ulbrich said. “You know, he’s just such an experienced guy. [He’s] been in so many systems and to pick up ours was not super difficult for him. So, he did a good job of that and put in that extra time to learn it and physically looked good out there.”
Ulbrich added there will be no snap-count limit, that the Jets plan to “play it by ear.”
“Although he hasn’t been doing a whole lot of football stuff in a football capacity, he’s been doing a lot of position specific stuff with pass rush specialists,” Ulbrich said. “He’s been doing conditioning, lifting, obviously, we’ll just kind of play it by ear. A big part of that will just be [to] observe him on game day and see what he is capable of doing.”
Reddick is on a reworked contract that will recoup some of the $12 million in fines and missed game checks he accumulated during his holdout.
He arrives at a transition time for the Jets, who have seen a lot of changes since the last time they played the Patriots, beating them 24-3 in Week 3.
Robert Saleh has been fired and Davante Adams has been added to the list of Aaron Rodgers’ options in an effort to spark the struggling offense.
Now, they’re welcoming a teammate who was supposed to have arrived months earlier.
Nevertheless, Ulbrich said it was “one of the better weeks” around the Jets camp with regard to preparation after an embarrassing 37-15 loss to the Steelers.
The defense should also get a boost by the return from injuries by cornerbacks Michael Carter II (back) and DJ Reed (groin).
Sauce Gardner said having Reddick — who had 50.5 sacks the past four seasons — alongside Will McDonald, who is second in the league with eight sacks, and two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, will help the secondary, knowing quarterbacks won’t have long to find receivers.
“Very humble. Very humble dude,” Gardner said of Reddick. “He just came here ready to learn. Not cocky or anything like that. I met him at the Pro Bowl a minute ago, so I was already familiar with him. He adds a lot, you know. Pass rush to get to the quarterback no matter what it is, found a way to get to the quarterback and being effective in the run game as well. He offers a lot of versatility.”
The Jets will need it as they face a virtual must-win game if they want to still make a playoff run.
