No team should ever trade for a player who wants a new contract without negotiating a new contract at the time the trade is made.
Ever. No exceptions.
The Jets are the latest example of a franchise violating this cardinal rule. They traded with the Eagles for edge rusher Haason Reddick when he wanted a new contract. Without working out a new contract.
And now they’re screwed.
Reddick hasn’t shown up, in an effort to get the contract he wants. He skipped the entire offseason program. He has held out of camp. He has now requested a trade.
The Jets have responded by telling the entire world they won’t trade him. (Which also ensures that the entire world knows there’s value in calling the Jets about a potential trade.)
Meanwhile, Connor Hughes of SNY has reiterated this nugget, which carries green and white fingerprints from head to toe: “The #Jets were informed by Haason Reddick’s representation that he would report and play under his current contract. That, obviously, has not happened.”
Hughes also echoed the notion that the Jets “let Reddick know they were open to adjusting his current deal (converting non-guaranteed to GTD), but only when he showed up.”
The fact that the Jets even made that offer shows they knew he wasn’t happy with his deal. And they traded for him anyway.
Did Reddick and/or his representatives say he would show up? Who knows? But those kind of verbal promises aren’t worth the paper they’re not printed on.
Here’s the truth, which other teams have also learned the hard way. When the player wants a new deal and you trade for him without one, he acquires the leverage. Because you’ve already given up something to get him.
The far better play is to use the leverage of not trading for him at all to get a deal done that works for everyone. No deal? No trade.
That’s how it should always be. With no exceptions. If the player wants a new deal, do not trade for him without working out a new deal.
And no amount of face-saving leaks to team-friendly reporters will ever change that basic truth.