Haason Reddick, a.k.a. Haas and Hammer, besides being one of the top edge rushers in the NFL with double-digit sacks in each of his past four seasons, is also an interesting, community-minded, Eastern U.S. kind of guy. Here are six things to know about the new Jet, who officially became a Jet on Monday following last week's reported trade with the Eagles.
Music to His Ears
Reddick is musically inclined. As an Eagle, he said his "desired talent" as "playing the piano" and he has a long list of favorite musicians, from Drake and Lil' Baby to Michael Jackson and Sam Cooke.
And in 2022, Reddick provided vocals on the Christmas album A Philly Special Christmas. This was the debut studio recording by The Philly Specials, one of whose members is recently retired C Jason Kelce. The album consists of covers of classic holiday songs and features duets with Eagles play-by-play announcer Merrill Reese and players including QB Jalen Hurts and Reddick. More than $250,000 has been raised from the album, with all proceeds going toward Philly's Children's Crisis Treatment Center.
Huge in the Community
The album segues into another Reddick personality trait, which is helping his community.
He donated $15,000 in toys to 200 families in Camden, NJ, for Christmas 2021. He supports the American Cancer Society to honor his grandmother, a breast cancer survivor, as well as Everytown for Gun Safety, both causes through the NFL's My Cause, My Cleats program. He has hosted youth football camps. No surprise, then, that he said that at the top of his "bucket list," he'd like to "run a successful non-profit."
Promoter of Clean Energy
Reddick even worries about his community when it's his teammates. In 2022 he entered into a partnership investment with R7, the "clean energy drink" people who released their brand into the retail and online marketplace that summer. To show his commitment to the product, he reportedly drank two cans of R7 daily during the '22 season.
"I am super excited to be a proud investor and partner in the R7 brand!" he said. "The entire team put a great deal of thought and science into the formulation of the product, so pro athletes like me and others can consume an energy drink that will fuel their everyday performance without harmful additives."
Growing Tougher and Stronger
Reddick's football career has been the proverbial one brick at a time. At HHHS, he was limited as a junior and senior by multiple leg injuries and headed for college as a no-star recruit. At Temple, his mom, Raelakia, took out a loan to purchase a meal plan that allowed him to dine with the college teammates.
But Reddick rose up the Owls' ranks to where, as a senior, he was awarded a single-digit jersey number, going from 58 down to 7, due to his being voted one of Temple's toughest players by teammates. (And he returned to No. 7 in his two Eagles seasons.)
At Home in the Northeast Corridor
Reddick may be a new Jet but he clearly relates to Amtrak as well. He played safety and running back at Haddon Heights HS in Camden County. Then he walked across the Delaware, walked on to Matt Ruhle's Temple team and built toward his senior season in 2016 when he notched 10.5 sacks and was named to the All-American Athletic Conference first team.
His pro career took him first to Arizona, then back East with Carolina before finally returning home to Philadelphia for the past two seasons. And now he's just up the road called I-95 from his South Jersey home at One Jets Drive.
Sacking the Giants in Their Home
Reddick's pro career in some ways is a distant replay of his journey from high school through Temple. The Cardinals made him the 13th overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, but the QB pelts didn't start piling up in the desert until his fourth season, when he notched 12.5 sacks. The next year at Carolina he recorded 11 sacks, then in his two Eagles seasons he reached 16 and 11 sacks.
In keeping with Haas's East Coast theme, even though he was with Arizona at the time, he achieved something only 18 other NFL players accomplished since sacks became an official defensive stat in 1982: He notched five sacks in one game. And he did it at his home office of the future, MetLife Stadium, against the Giants in 2020. Three of those were stripsacks were of Daniel Jones.
Other than getting drafted in the city of Philadelphia in 2017 and signing with the Eagles in '22, Reddick calls his five-bagger against Big Blue his "favorite sports moment."
