Let’s put the spotlight on Bucs outside linebacker Haason Reddick.

With the 2024 season firmly in the rearview mirror and the pre-draft process, free agency, the draft itself, OTAs and mini-camp also behind us, it’s time to ramp up the excitement for training camp and then, of course, the Bucs’ 50th season. As we did last summer, we’ll spend the weeks leading up to training camp focusing on some storylines and narratives surrounding some of Tampa Bay’s biggest stars in 2025.

So far, we’ve worked our way through storylines for nine players on offense: quarterback Baker Mayfield, running backs Bucky Irving and Rachaad White, wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan, tight end Cade Otton and offensive tackles Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke.

From there, we moved over to the defensive side of the ball. We started up front with defensive tackle Calijah Kancey and nose tackle Vita Vea, then moved to the outside linebackers, first covering Yaya Diaby. Today, we move on to Tampa Bay’s biggest external free agent acquisition of the offseason, Haason Reddick.

Can Haason Reddick Prove 2024 Was An Outlier?

After an 11-sack season in 2023 earned him his second straight Pro Bowl selection and marked his fourth consecutive season with double-digit sacks, Haason Reddick’s NFL career hit a road block. Unhappy with his current deal in Philadelphia after feeling like he had outperformed it, he wanted a new contract. Instead, the Eagles traded him to the Jets. But that trade was only the beginning of what would be a strange and lost year for the veteran.

Reddick was reportedly offered a long-term deal by the Jets at the time of the trade, but he rejected it. They went through with the trade anyway, and that began a rocky relationship between the team and player. The basics of the back-and-forth are that the Jets said Reddick agreed to play out the final year on the 3-year deal that carried over from Philadelphia only to then walk that back. After their initial offer was rejected, the team stopped negotiating a new contract for their newly acquired pass rusher.

Reddick then didn’t report for training camp and wound up requesting another trade. New York wasn’t interested in dealing him, so the holdout continued into the season. By mid-October, though, the two sides worked things out and he finally reported and began what would be a short-lived tenure with the Jets.

Bucs OLB Haason Reddick – Photo by: USA Today

Reddick went on to play 10 games (with two starts) and finished the season with just 14 tackles (nine solo), two tackles for loss), one sack, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble. Once he became a free agent, his road led him to the Bucs, who inked him to a 1-year deal for $14 million, with $12 million guaranteed.

Tampa Bay is comfortable with where Reddick is after a frustrating 2024 and believes it will be getting the best version of him in 2025. Given the way his contract situation went down between both Philadelphia and New York, the 30-year-old certainly has a chip on his shoulder and will be looking to prove that 2024 was an outlier by getting back to the disruptive force he was when he totaled 50.5 sacks between 2020 and 2023.

On the one hand, there’s the simple fact that Reddick feels like he has something to prove after what happened last year. That itself is going to drive him, and the Bucs will be beneficiaries of that. But there’s also the fact that this 1-year deal is giving Reddick a platform to prove he still has plenty left in him. If he can do that, he’ll set himself up for what he hopes will be a big, multi-year payday next offseason – one he will feel is long overdue.

Of course, that only happens if Reddick looks like the Reddick of 2020-2023 and not the guy who managed just a single sack last year over 10 games. The lack of production over those 10 games with the Jets very well could be written off as a product of him missing the whole offseason, training camp and the start of the regular season. But it’s up to him to play his way into that narrative being the truth.

How Much Can Haason Reddick’s Presence Improve The Bucs Defense?

The Bucs believe a motivated Haason Reddick might just be what takes their front seven over the top in 2025. And it’s hard to argue with that being the team’s thought process.

While Joe Tryon-Shoyinka flashed an ability to get after the quarterback at times, he was too inconsistent and struggled to finish sacks, which left a lot to be desired on one side of the Buccaneer pass rush. There’s a case to be made that the lack of a consistent force on that side hurt Yaya Diaby on the other side, which is part of the reason an addition like Reddick could potentially be transformational for Tampa Bay.

Bucs OLBs Haason Reddick and Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR

Head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles made no secret this offseason about how crucial it is for the Bucs to get more out of their four-man pass rush this season. As disappointing as the ball production has been in the secondary over the last few years, a better four-man pass rush has been the real missing piece for Tampa Bay ever since it lost the duo of peak Shaq Barrett and peak Jason Pierre-Paul. The result has been Bowles having to get more creative and blitz-heavy than ever to manufacture some pressure on the quarterback.

With Diaby rounding into form and the addition of Reddick, the Bucs believe they have a starting outside linebacker duo that will work well alongside the interior duo of Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey. And if the four-man pass rush improves as everyone expects it to, that opens up a world of possibilities for Bowles as a play-caller, and it makes life easier for the Tampa Bay secondary, which got its own reinforcements through the draft.

Not only is Reddick’s presence expected to take the four-man rush to another level, but adding him to the outside linebacker room should elevate that group’s floor in a big way. Because with Reddick and Diaby leading the way as the starters, that leaves Anthony Nelson to contribute as a quality reserve, plus it allows guys like second-year pro Chris Braswell and rookie fourth-round pick David Walker to mix in, get their feet wet and make an impact on a rotational basis.

There’s a world where Reddick doesn’t even produce the double-digit sacks he had a few years ago and still has a profound impact on what Tampa Bay is doing as a defense. His presence, in theory, should do a lot for Diaby, Vea and Kancey up front and open things up for Bowles to scheme up the right coverages without having to send an extra man as a blitzer on such a frequent basis.

Granted, this is all if things go according to the Bucs’ plan. And if it does, it should be a lot of fun to watch.

Will Haason Reddick Be One-And-Done In Tampa Bay?

As much as Haason Reddick seems primed to make an impact on the Bucs defense this year, there’s a very real chance that he only does so for this year. 

That’s the nature of signing a guy to a 1-year deal, right? Reddick needed a chance to reestablish his value, and Tampa Bay needed a proven player to come in and boost its pass rush. If everything works out the way both sides want it to, that’s great. The Bucs will be better on defense, which could help propel them into the same tier as the other top contenders in the NFC and the NFL as a whole. And Reddick will prove he still has it and deserves perhaps his last big-money contract next offseason.

But if all of that does work out, there’s no guarantee that Reddick will stick around and be a key piece in the Buccaneer pass rush again next year.

Bucs OLB Haason Reddick – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Sure, maybe he has a great season, loves Tampa, enjoys his teammates and the team either wins the Super Bowl or he feels he has a good chance to win a ring with the Bucs. But the money is still going to have to be right. Maybe it could be, but if he has the type of season he’s hoping for, there will be other suitors.

When other suitors enter the picture and big amounts of money get thrown around, there’s no telling which way things will go. Tampa Bay saw that firsthand this offseason when the Patriots tried to lure Chris Godwin to Foxborough with a massive contract. Godwin chose to take less money and stay with the Bucs, but that kind of decision is far more the exception than the rule. Maybe Reddick would find himself wanting to stay, but another offer is simply better for him. In that scenario, he’d be on to his sixth team.

Then, there’s the other side of it. Maybe a scenario plays out where the Bucs don’t want or need to re-sign Reddick next offseason. If he falls short of expectations in 2025, there’s no reason to try it again in 2026 with the pass rusher a year older and another year removed from his last productive season. And then there’s the potential scenario where sure, Reddick is solid in 2025, but the Bucs feel good enough about what they see in Yaya Diaby and either Chris Braswell or David Walker (or both?) and they’re content to move forward with a younger group that they could potentially add to again in the 2026 Draft?

We’re getting way ahead of ourselves here considering Reddick only has three practices in that red No. 5 jersey under his belt and training camp has yet to get underway. But whether he’ll be a one-and-done with the Bucs is bound to be a looming thought all year long and into next offseason.