Haason Reddick is critical to the Eagles defense ... and Jonathan Gannon’s job

Every day of this training camp and preseason, Haason Reddick and Jonathan Gannon have conferred to contemplate the possibilities of Reddick’s role within the Eagles defense.

Gannon is 39, a young coordinator who would rather collaborate with his players than order them around, and his relationship with Reddick has to be of paramount importance to him. Reddick, after all, was the first major acquisition of the Eagles’ offseason, the pass-rusher that Gannon’s defense didn’t have last season.

Three years, as much as $45 million on that free-agent contract for an outside linebacker who turns 28 later this month — oh, yes, Reddick gets some skin in Gannon’s game. The coach would have to be a dummy not to try to forge a strong working relationship with a powerful player like that.

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“If it’s something for me, he wants to see how comfortable I am with it,” Reddick said. “He asks me every time. It’s a wonderful thing. I always get my input, tell him whether I like it or not, and he takes that information and does as he pleases.”

Well, not exactly. Gannon is just one year in with the Eagles, a long way from earning the full benefit of the doubt from either the fans or, more important, the team’s front office. The sight of Vic Fangio — the former head coach of the Broncos, one of the NFL’s most respected defensive minds, and the architect of the multiple system that Gannon uses — at a NovaCare Complex practice in early August was, if nothing else, a reminder of the pressure that Gannon is and will remain under if the Eagles defense doesn’t improve. And improve quickly.

Whether it was because his personnel was lacking or he prefers that his defense play this way, Gannon’s schemes and calls last season were as conservative as an Indiana small town. He had the team’s safeties playing so deep that they were practically standing on Darien Street, in the Jetro lot.

The Eagles blitzed on just 16.4% of their defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Reference. Only one team, the Las Vegas Raiders, blitzed less. The Eagles had just 29 sacks. Only one team, the Atlanta Falcons, had fewer. But there was some potential within those underwhelming statistics. They managed to hurry opposing quarterbacks 11.6% of the time, the seventh-highest rate in the league.

So it made sense for Howie Roseman to chase Reddick, especially since Reddick, a Camden native and Temple alumnus, was primed for a homecoming after his full array of skills had finally manifested themselves over his previous two seasons. A first-round pick in 2017, Reddick spent three years languishing at inside linebacker with the Arizona Cardinals, playing under three defensive coordinators, before he asked to be moved outside. Even then, only an injury to Chandler Jones afforded him the chance to start.

“Never give up, man,” Reddick said. “It’s so Philadelphia when you think about it, like an underdog story, being overlooked, continue to push through, all the ups and downs. Earlier, I had way more downs than I did ups. Tried to keep my mental confidence, reminding myself that I’m still that guy, that I’m still a great player, even if people were saying otherwise.”

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He collected 12 ½ sacks with the Cardinals in 2020, then 11 last season with the Carolina Panthers. Anything short of those sack numbers this season would be a disappointment, though Reddick’s experience at inside linebacker might be his greatest limitation in this regard. His position-shifting, he said, has equipped him with enough versatility that he and Gannon can and want to keep opponents guessing whether, play to play, Reddick will come after the quarterback or drop back into coverage.

“The greatest research tool, in my opinion, when we acquired him was his brain,” Gannon said. “We had a good talk, sat down with him, and said, ‘Hey, what are you comfortable with, what are you not, what spots do you want to be in, and what don’t you? Here’s how we see you fitting into the scheme. Here is our vision for you, of how we’re going to deploy you and how we’re going to use you. Are you comfortable with that? Are you not?’ And we’re still figuring that out. …

“Haason is so smart. Just because I want to do something, if he doesn’t want to do it, we’re not going to do it, or if it’s not the best thing for the team, we’re not going to do that.”

This, on paper, was a terrific offseason for Gannon, as if he filled out a wish list and Roseman and circumstance teamed up to play Santa Claus for him. Brandon Graham is back from an Achilles tear. The Eagles signed Kyzir White, James Bradberry, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. They drafted Nakobe Dean.

Reddick, though, was the move that can make the most difference. He’s the player who can change everything for this defense — the player who, more than anyone on the team, holds the coordinator’s future in his hands. So Jonathan Gannon will sit down with Haason Reddick, seek his insight and feedback, and listen well to it. He has to listen for the Eagles’ sake, and maybe his own.

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