It's hard to get a sense of how seriously we should take offseason reports. OTAs and minicamp are a not-unimportant part of the NFL calendar, but also, we sometimes seem to forget that everyone's running around in t-shirts, working on Day 1 install stuff. It's a very casual hang.
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But also, never miss an opportunity to get over-excited about good offseason reports – that's, like, 75% of what being an NFL fan means.
Take this latest Haason Reddick report from The Athletic, for instance. Various beat writers from around the league weighed in on what they’ve seen so far this offseason in the small sample size of minicamps.
Reddick hasn't done much with the Bucs yet, but so far, all signs are positive. At the very least, it turns out leaving the New York Jets is a really great career move
The first Haason Reddick reports out of Tampa Bay are awfully encouraging
Dan Pompei had eyes on Bucs camp and had nothin but glowing things to say about what Reddick has done so far. Given that it hasn’t been much, considering he skipped OTAs, the fact that the early returns are positive actually say a lot:
"Reddick’s presence at minicamp was powerful,” Pompei wrote. ”Reddick, who had 50 1/2 sacks between 2020 and 2023, hasn’t forgotten how to get to the quarterback, even though he had an awful 2024 with the Jets. At 30, he appears to be in his athletic prime, and is at the point in his life when knowledge and ability are intersecting quite nicely. Reddick also has been sharing his wisdom with younger Bucs pass rushers, but the way he can help them most is by attracting blockers. The expectation on this team is Reddick will have a productive season — and help teammates do the same."
A productive season. Now we're talking! And sure, both of Reddick's last two teams expected productive seasons only to get ... you know. But those were then! This is now! The culture in Tampa is so much better than the Jets and [checks notes] last year's Super Bowl champions.
Reddick's career speaks for itself, and when you look at his entire body of work, it seems pretty obvious that his time in New York will probably end up being the anomaly. You don't rack up over 50 sacks in the past five years by accident. If he can bring some much-needed production to a Bucs' pass-rushing effort that desperately needed it last year, that one-year deal is going to look like the steal of the offseason.
Given what's already being reported about his time in Tampa, it's already starting to feel like that.
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