NY Jets quietly flip disaster trade into 2026 bonus pick haul

Haason Reddick’s brief stint with the New York Jets was nothing short of a disaster. Acquired to bolster the team’s pass rush in 2024, the veteran edge rusher didn't suit up until midseason, holding out over a contract dispute that spiraled into months of frustration.

He played in just 10 games, recorded one sack, and by the following March, was gone, signing a $14 million deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after torpedoing his own stock and being dropped by his agency in the process.

But as it turns out, the Jets might actually end up getting something of value out of the whole mess.

With this week marking the official deadline for transactions that impact the NFL’s compensatory pick formula, the Jets are now projected to receive three comp picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, including a 4th-round selection tied directly to Reddick’s departure.

In total, the Jets are projected to receive a fourth-round pick and two seventh-rounders in next year’s draft, based on the latest projections from OverTheCap.

Those picks won’t be officially announced until next March, but with the comp formula now locked in, the Jets can confidently plan on having three extra selections, one of which came from flipping a total failure into future capital.

NY Jets turned the Haason Reddick disaster into a comp pick

The NFL’s compensatory pick formula can be convoluted, but with the dust now settled after the 2025 NFL Draft and this week's deadline having passed, the picture is finally clear. The Jets should receive three compensatory picks in next year's draft.

The fourth-round pick is tied to Reddick, who signed a one-year, $14 million deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason. That loss outweighed any comparable free-agent additions by the Jets, making it a net positive in the comp pick formula.

The seventh-round selections are projected to come from the losses of defensive tackle Solomon Thomas (two-year, $6 million deal with the Cowboys) and tight end Tyler Conklin (one-year, $3 million deal with the Chargers).

Not every departure translated to a pick, however. For example, D.J. Reed signed a three-year, $48 million deal with the Detroit Lions, but that was canceled out by the Jets’ own splashy two-year, $40 million deal for quarterback Justin Fields.

The team’s $36 million contract for cornerback Brandon Stephens similarly wiped out a projected fifth-rounder tied to Javon Kinlaw, while Andre Cisco’s $10 million deal nixed a sixth-round pick they would have received for Morgan Moses.

As it stands, the Jets’ projected comp haul is still among the better ones in the league, and ironically, it’s the pick tied to Reddick that leads the way.

The fact that Reddick is at the center of this projected bonus pick haul is almost poetic. The Jets traded a conditional second or third-round pick to the Eagles last offseason in exchange for Reddick, operating under the logic that they could either extend him or let him walk for a future compensatory pick if things soured.

Things definitely soured. Reddick never reported to the Jets after the trade, holding out through minicamp, training camp, and the start of the regular season.

Even after he eventually returned midseason on a restructured deal, Reddick was a shell of his former self, recording just one sack in 10 games and grading out as one of the worst edge rushers in the NFL.

It will never erase how poorly the Haason Reddick trade turned out for the Jets, but at least they’ll come away with something for their trouble. In a roundabout way, Reddick might end up helping the Jets' future after all — just not in the way anyone intended.

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