Dropping Haason Reddick into Pass Coverage is like Asking Kyle Schwarber to Bunt
The Eagles dropped Haason Reddick into coverage seven times on Sunday afternoon, which was a career high. Here he is lined up in the slot against Elijah Higgins:
This is just a terrible call. I’m not going to blame a pass rusher for unsatisfactory 1/4 Flat technique. Allowing him to get walked out like that is just a waste. It’s too easy to exploit the backside of Cover 8 like this. It reminds me of the Vikings defense from last year. pic.twitter.com/zfoz2bfWSA
— Honest NFL (@TheHonestNFL) January 1, 2024
Reddick, you may be aware, leads the Eagles with 11 sacks and 12 tackles for loss. He had 16 sacks last season, which also lead the team. Common sense would say that you let your best edge rusher… rush from the edge!
Nick Sirianni said this about the fugazi-ness:
Q. What’s the reason you guys are dropping LB Haason Reddick into coverage more, and is that maximizing his skill set as a pass-rusher? (Zach Berman)
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, good question. Again, you’re trying to not be predictable in different fronts that you’re in. I know when we see somebody that’s predictable in anything, right, that we try to take advantage of that. And so, you’re trying not to be predictable.
We know, he gets paid to rush the passer and he’s really good at it. But again, if the predictability — quarterback is going to get it out even quicker if he knows exactly what’s happening.
So again, there’s some games, he’s going to drop a little more than other games. But make no mistake about it. You know what, I think he dropped six times maybe — what was it?
Q. Seven. (Zach Berman)
NICK SIRIANNI: Seven. He dropped seven times. But there were, I don’t even know how many plays were in that game. He rushed the other ones.
And so, six out of, I think he played 70-some plays, or he maybe played 60-some plays. That happens.
Seven drops over the course of a full game doesn’t seem like a ton, and he did do it occasionally under Jonathan Gannon, but in this instance Reddick played 59 snaps, so seven out of 59 is 11.9%. That might not look like some massive number, but this guy is the best rusher you have. He should be dropping into coverage at a rate of 0%.
Think about the absurdity of, say, asking Kyle Schwarber to bunt. That’s basically what this is. It would be like asking Rasmus Ristolainen to take the faceoffs or having Joel Embiid inbound the ball.
Make it make sense!