Joshua Zimmerman
The Cardinals selected Hasson Reddick with the 13th pick of the 2017 NFL draft to be the defensive player of their future. Coming out of Temple as a walk-on, with an all American conference senior year Reddick made his draft stock soar at the combine. He finished among the top three in his position group in the 40 yard dash, vertical jump and broad jump, with the longest jump since 2003. This helped him go from barely a top 100 prospect to a top 15 pick. On top of that because he is undersized, teams and scouts felt that he should move from outside linebacker to inside linebacker and the Cardinals drafted him so high to do exactly that. Reddick, despite having a great Reese’s senior bowl at the position (he had a game high 9 tackles) had a slow start in the NFL because of this.
The Bottom
Reddick had a hard time adjusting as a linebacker. Putting up 36, 80 and 76 combined tackles in his first three seasons which all ranked below 100 among linebackers. Reddick even said when talking to a reporter that playing linebacker was “Very difficult, man, Just a different world. You've got to look at different things, you've got more keys, it's a hard process to go from being on the line, reading one key, to having to read three or more”. On top of that Reddick had three coaching changes in those three years. Which as he even said as a young player it’s really hard because you have to learn new defenses and new techniques.
Improvement and Going Up
Before his fourth year the Cardinals failed to pick up Reddicks fifth option so he thought it was his last year in the NFL. He then convinced the cardinals coaching staff to let him play his position in college, outside linebacker and that saved his career. His stats were outstanding at the position. Posting 12.5 sacks, 15 TFL, 16 QB hits, 11 QB hurries, and 4 run stuffs. Which was enough for him to get signed by the Panthers in free agency to a one year 10 million dollar deal. Where he had another insane year posting 11 sacks, 12 TFL, 18 QB hits, 11 QB hurries and 11 run stuffs. He even got voted in as a pro bowl reserve. Then Reddick got signed to a multi year deal with the eagles and was given a home.
Better than People Think
Reddick is one of the best pass rushers in the league. His 23.5 sacks over the last 2 years are 5th by any player in that span. He started to build into the first round hype five years ago but not at his draft position. He will be a threat with the eagles for the foreseeable future and should get a pro bowl nod soon.
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