Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich confirms Haason Reddick's team debut against Patriots after a 'good week of work'
Jeff Ulbrich said the Jets “will play it by ear’’ regarding how many snaps Haason Reddick will get. Credit: Getty Images
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The light for Haason Reddick to play on Sunday is as green as his shiny new Jets helmet.
Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said the linebacker will make his long-awaited debut for the Jets when they face the Patriots in Foxborough. After a lengthy contractual holdout since the Jets acquired him in a trade with the Eagles in the spring, Reddick reported to the team Monday. Ulbrich said Reddick is ready to go despite participating in only two full practices.
“He had a good week of work with us,” Ulbrich said. “He’s just such an experienced guy, has been in so many systems, to pick up ours was not super-difficult for him. He did a good job with that, put in the extra time to learn it and looked good out there physically. I’m excited about what he’ll contribute to our rush group.”
The Jets are at 3.0 sacks per game, tied for eighth in the NFL, and Will McDonald IV is second in the league with 8.0 sacks. Adding Reddick, who has averaged 12.6 sacks per season the last four years, should help improve the Jets’ overall pass-rushing performance.
It also should help the secondary.
“A lot,” cornerback Sauce Gardner said emphatically. “If you look around the league, you have some teams that take more chances [in the secondary] because they feel like their guys can get home. We have our times we do that as well. But adding depth to the guys we have on the D-line already, it’s a blessing . . . I’m looking forward to taking the field with him on Sunday.”
The Jets got more good news regarding their defensive backfield. Gardner, D.J. Reed and Michael Carter II, the starting cornerbacks, all will be healthy and available for the first time since early in the Week 5 game against the Vikings in London.
“It’s always great to have our group together,” Gardner said.
Ulbrich, who will have those cornerbacks in place for the first time since he became interim coach, said: “Those guys when they are together out there have the advantage of not only being ultra-talented, as we know, but they have time on task and cohesion together. They just understand each others’ voices.”
As for Reddick, Ulbrich said there will be no hard snap limit for his first game action since January.
“We’re going to play it by ear,” he said. “He feels like he is in good shape, and 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 and he’s been doing conditioning, lifting.
“A big part of that will be just observing him on game day, seeing what he is capable of doing.”
The long wait for that is nearly over.
Notes & quotes: RG Alijah Vera-Tucker (ankle), DT Leki Fotu (knee) and S Ashtyn Davis (concussion) are out . . . Ulbrich said G Morgan Moses (knee) should be able to play . . . S Tony Adams (hamstring) and WR Allen Lazard (chest) will be game-time decisions, but Ulbrich was doubtful about their availability.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
