Salary Cap going up 10 to 11 million

[Jetster]

It's been reported the salary cap will be somewhere around 179 million, adding another 10 to 11 million. That large of a cap increase just gave Broncos & Vikings much more ammunition to go after Cousins. 

While I've been a huge proponent of going all out for him, I loathe the idea of Cousins & his agent using the Jets as pawns to get as much as they can with no serious interest in joining the NY Jets. 

I will lose any respect I have for Macc & Bowles if they get held hostage during the opening of free agency, stifling their ability to negotiate for players at other positions of need. If the Jets are indeed players for Cousins they need to slide all their chips in immediately at the start of free agency & be willing to fold very quickly if his agent waffles for time to negotiate with the Broncos & Vikings. 

I would have so much more respect for Macc if he plays his hand like this, makes the huge offer, and puts a very short window for Kirk & his agent. He's basically been a free agent since the Redskins traded for Alex Smith, so we're talking weeks & weeks, already for them to discuss options ect. It's not like the Jets don't have other options this year, in fact, they have never had this many options regarding the QB position. 

The day free agency opens we either have signed Kirk Cousins or we've announced we're moving on to plan B. 

[Scott Dierking]

Just now, Jetster said:

It's been reported the salary cap will be somewhere around 179 million, adding another 10 to 11 million. That large of a cap increase just gave Broncos & Vikings much more ammunition to go after Cousins. 

While I've been a huge proponent of going all out for him, I loathe the idea of Cousins & his agent using the Jets as pawns to get as much as they can with no serious interest in joining the NY Jets. 

I will lose any respect I have for Macc & Bowles if they get held hostage during the opening of free agency, stifling their ability to negotiate for players at other positions of need. If the Jets are indeed players for Cousins they need to slide all their chips in immediately at the start of free agency & be willing to fold very quickly if his agent waffles for time to negotiate with the Broncos & Vikings. 

I would have so much more respect for Macc if he plays his hand like this, makes the huge offer, and puts a very short window for Kirk & his agent. He's basically been a free agent since the Redskins traded for Alex Smith, so we're talking weeks & weeks, already for them to discuss options ect. It's not like the Jets don't have other options this year, in fact, they have never had this many options regarding the QB position. 

The day free agency opens we either have signed Kirk Cousins or we've announced we're moving on to plan B. 

Even if the Jets do not ultimately get Cousins, but engage in the bidding, and get other teams to use that their cap, that ultimately helps the Jets.

I would suspect that the Cousins ultimate destination plays out quickly, unless he is tendered by the Skins.

[JetsFanatic]

4 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

Even if the Jets do not ultimately get Cousins, but engage in the bidding, and get other teams to use that their cap, that ultimately helps the Jets.

I would suspect that the Cousins ultimate destination plays out quickly, unless he is tendered by the Skins.

I agree. We may know before the “legal tampering” period ends where he is going.

[The Crusher]

3 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

Even if the Jets do not ultimately get Cousins, but engage in the bidding, and get other teams to use that their cap, that ultimately helps the Jets.

I would suspect that the Cousins ultimate destination plays out quickly, unless he is tendered by the Skins.

Macc needs to realize he is not getting Cousins and needs to game the gamer. Should be working his butt off behind the scenes trying to set up the groundwork to get his guy in the draft.,( hopefully a QB) Has to be prepared to trade and move up to get the QB he wants. Ewww, that really doesn’t make me feel any better.  

[Scott Dierking]

Just now, The Crusher said:

Macc needs to realize he is not getting Cousins and needs to game the gamer. Should be working his butt off behind the scenes trying to set up the groundwork to get his guy in the draft.,( hopefully a QB) Has to be prepared to trade and move up to get the QB he wants. Ewww, that really doesn’t make me feel any better.  

The draft machinations begin in late March at earliest and are an offshoot to what happens in FA.

Me, I always felt that the draft should come first, and then use Free agency after that. But no one listens to me.

[The Crusher]

Just now, Scott Dierking said:

The draft machinations begin in late March at earliest and are an offshoot to what happens in FA.

Me, I always felt that the draft should come first, and then use Free agency after that. But no one listens to me.

I do Scott. I listen. 

Sadly I think OP is spot on and could see Macc chasing Cousins down the rabbit hole as if his life depended on it. Just to come back up clueless and disorientated. Kinda like last three drafts. 

Kinda bad when I can’t even delude myself into thinking this is going to be anything other than an unmitigated disaster. 

[bla bla bla]

I'm pretty sure all the figures people have been discussing all year have circled around that figure. Overthecap has projected that for quite some time, I don't think it changes much.

[bla bla bla]

7 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

I do Scott. I listen. 

Sadly I think OP is spot on and could see Macc chasing Cousins down the rabbit hole as if his life depended on it. Just to come back up clueless and disorientated. Kinda like last three drafts. 

Kinda bad when I can’t even delude myself into thinking this is going to be anything other than an unmitigated disaster. 

I think the only thing that will prevent that is how much money we have. If we had just enough to get Cousins then I'd be more concerned that we wait but since we have so much money I'd be sort of surprised if they don't target every other position.

I'm fine with them waiting on Cousins because I think the fall back is McCown, I'm sure a McCown contract will look similar to the Fitz deal except it will be 1 year as opposed to a glorified 2 year deal. I don't think the $40M we set aside to wait on Cousins will prevent us from landing the other top FAs we want. If that means we have more money rolling over to next year then I'm fine with that too.

[Better2bgreenthanblue]

Wow, hard to imagine Cousins is going to get Bryce Harper kind of money, but it sure looks that way.

[The Crusher]

28 minutes ago, bla bla bla said:

I think the only thing that will prevent that is how much money we have. If we had just enough to get Cousins then I'd be more concerned that we wait but since we have so much money I'd be sort of surprised if they don't target every other position.

I'm fine with them waiting on Cousins because I think the fall back is McCown, I'm sure a McCown contract will look similar to the Fitz deal except it will be 1 year as opposed to a glorified 2 year deal. I don't think the $40M we set aside to wait on Cousins will prevent us from landing the other top FAs we want. If that means we have more money rolling over to next year then I'm fine with that too.

It’s not jut money I’m worried about. I’m worried about Macc being so fixated on getting Cousins he kind of loses track of anything else. I have to think at this point taking a young QB early , depending on Bowles developing/playing him and expectations with that scares him to death. From what we have seen so far from him it’s a well founded fear. 

[Dcat]

54 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

Macc needs to realize he is not getting Cousins and needs to game the gamer. Should be working his butt off behind the scenes trying to set up the groundwork to get his guy in the draft.,( hopefully a QB) Has to be prepared to trade and move up to get the QB he wants. Ewww, that really doesn’t make me feel any better.  

Exactly.  Maybe Cousins is his Plan A, but in all likelihood, Cousins is going to be a Viking, so Mac better be ready with Plan B.  Rookie + one of McCown, McCarron or Keenum as a bridge.

[bla bla bla]

5 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

It’s not jut money I’m worried about. I’m worried about Macc being so fixated on getting Cousins he kind of loses track of anything else. I have to think at this point taking a young QB early , depending on Bowles developing/playing him and expectations with that scares him to death. From what we have seen so far from him it’s a well founded fear. 

I agree to an extent but more so because Cousins is a proven commodity. As much as it hurts to have Hack as a 2nd round pick I don't think that was seen as a franchise type move where we needed to live or die on that pick. There really haven't been any QBs taken as late as Hack and panned out with the exception of a few players like Brady, Prescott, and Wilson. I think Hack was meant more as a Hail Mary while hoping Fitz had a year or 2 left in him to allow Hack the time to learn. Fitz imploded and Hack stinks unfortunately but this coaching staff has gotten 2 career years out of journeymen QBs so I would like to see them go all in on a QB whether it's Cousins or a rookie.

[varjet]

4 minutes ago, bla bla bla said:

I agree to an extent but more so because Cousins is a proven commodity. As much as it hurts to have Hack as a 2nd round pick I don't think that was seen as a franchise type move where we needed to live or die on that pick. There really haven't been any QBs taken as late as Hack and panned out with the exception of a few players like Brady, Prescott, and Wilson. I think Hack was meant more as a Hail Mary while hoping Fitz had a year or 2 left in him to allow Hack the time to learn. Fitz imploded and Hack stinks unfortunately but this coaching staff has gotten 2 career years out of journeymen QBs so I would like to see them go all in on a QB whether it's Cousins or a rookie.

That was the plan with Fitz and Hack and it was not a terrible one.  What made the plan particularly fail though was the bad choice in offensive coaching and the instability there.   This is year 4 of the MacBowles regime, and they are on their 3rd or 4th OC (depending if you though Gailey was conscious in 2016) and the same number of offensive systems.  

[nycdan]

1 hour ago, Jetster said:

It's been reported the salary cap will be somewhere around 179 million, adding another 10 to 11 million. That large of a cap increase just gave Broncos & Vikings much more ammunition to go after Cousins. 

While I've been a huge proponent of going all out for him, I loathe the idea of Cousins & his agent using the Jets as pawns to get as much as they can with no serious interest in joining the NY Jets. 

I will lose any respect I have for Macc & Bowles if they get held hostage during the opening of free agency, stifling their ability to negotiate for players at other positions of need. If the Jets are indeed players for Cousins they need to slide all their chips in immediately at the start of free agency & be willing to fold very quickly if his agent waffles for time to negotiate with the Broncos & Vikings. 

I would have so much more respect for Macc if he plays his hand like this, makes the huge offer, and puts a very short window for Kirk & his agent. He's basically been a free agent since the Redskins traded for Alex Smith, so we're talking weeks & weeks, already for them to discuss options ect. It's not like the Jets don't have other options this year, in fact, they have never had this many options regarding the QB position. 

The day free agency opens we either have signed Kirk Cousins or we've announced we're moving on to plan B. 

The end of the day, if the Jets (and the Browns maybe) get used to drive up the price for MIN or someone else, it doesn't hurt us any more than if we didn't bid at all, and in fact, tying up more of another team's cap long term is a competitive asset.   It's only one team, but it ties their hands more a year or two down the road.  Play the game, set a limit, if you don't get your guy, move on.  I agree that putting a short timer on the deal can sometimes help, but in this case, I think Cousins already knows he's going to get big coin from one of several teams, so I don't see that being as effective. 

I'm starting to get resigned to Cousins in MIN and just hoping it doesn't cause Macc to drag his feet on other guys like Norwell, Jensen/Richburg and a top CB.  

[The Crusher]

1 hour ago, bla bla bla said:

I think the only thing that will prevent that is how much money we have. If we had just enough to get Cousins then I'd be more concerned that we wait but since we have so much money I'd be sort of surprised if they don't target every other position.

I'm fine with them waiting on Cousins because I think the fall back is McCown, I'm sure a McCown contract will look similar to the Fitz deal except it will be 1 year as opposed to a glorified 2 year deal. I don't think the $40M we set aside to wait on Cousins will prevent us from landing the other top FAs we want. If that means we have more money rolling over to next year then I'm fine with that too.

McCown getting signed no mater how practical will be a PR nightmare for the Jets. Especially if Macc “settles” for a lesser perceived QB. 

[choon328]

It is quite possible that all of these leaks coming from the "media" about how Macc is going all out for Cousins and that he'll pay "whatever it takes" are coming from the agent to drive up the price for the Vikings or whomever is Cousins' preferred destination.  One thing we know about the Jets since Macc has taken over is that the media rarely knows what the Jets are doing ahead of time.  It is quite possible that the Jets plan the entire time is to bring back McCown or somebody like Bradford, trade up to grab their QB and spend the bulk of their money solidifying every aspect of the team that needs help.  As we saw from the Eagles this year you can win with a "B" QB if you have a very good team around him. 

 

 

[bla bla bla]

18 minutes ago, varjet said:

That was the plan with Fitz and Hack and it was not a terrible one.  What made the plan particularly fail though was the bad choice in offensive coaching and the instability there.   This is year 4 of the MacBowles regime, and they are on their 3rd or 4th OC (depending if you though Gailey was conscious in 2016) and the same number of offensive systems.  

Yea that certainly didn't help, I just think expecting a late 2nd round QB to pan out is wishful thinking. I want to see them go all in the way Rex did with Sanchez even if that means we fall on our face.

[nycdan]

1 hour ago, bla bla bla said:

I think the only thing that will prevent that is how much money we have. If we had just enough to get Cousins then I'd be more concerned that we wait but since we have so much money I'd be sort of surprised if they don't target every other position.

I'm fine with them waiting on Cousins because I think the fall back is McCown, I'm sure a McCown contract will look similar to the Fitz deal except it will be 1 year as opposed to a glorified 2 year deal. I don't think the $40M we set aside to wait on Cousins will prevent us from landing the other top FAs we want. If that means we have more money rolling over to next year then I'm fine with that too.

And next year, when we are picking 6th again, with only maybe the usual 2 potential franchise QB picks in the draft, we will be having this same discussion because CIN, MIA and CHI (or someone like them whose young QB flamed out) will all be picking ahead of us looking for new QBs and we will either have to trade up with CLE to #1 or settle for the next defensive BPA.  But that will be okay, because McCown will be happy to give it 'one more year'.  The only good part is at least it won't be a contract renewal year for Macc and Bowles.

[bla bla bla]

5 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

McCown getting signed no mater how practical will be a PR nightmare for the Jets. Especially if Macc “settles” for a lesser perceived QB. 

I think there are fans that are certainly irrational and blow their tops but if McCown is resigned I think we all know QB will be the pick at 6 or higher. If they pass on a QB and wait until round 2 then I'll lose it.

[bla bla bla]

1 minute ago, nycdan said:

And next year, when we are picking 6th again, with only maybe the usual 2 potential franchise QB picks in the draft, we will be having this same discussion because CIN, MIA and CHI (or someone like them whose young QB flamed out) will all be picking ahead of us looking for new QBs and we will either have to trade up with CLE to #1 or settle for the next defensive BPA.  But that will be okay, because McCown will be happy to give it 'one more year'.  The only good part is at least it won't be a contract renewal year for Macc and Bowles.

You think if we miss on Cousins we won't take a QB this year? I'd have to imagine Macc will be gone if that situation happens. 

[The Crusher]

3 minutes ago, bla bla bla said:

I think there are fans that are certainly irrational and blow their tops but if McCown is resigned I think we all know QB will be the pick at 6 or higher. If they pass on a QB and wait until round 2 then I'll lose it.

I’m in the we go Minkah then a second round QB camp. My second guess is the guard then second round QB. My outside scenario is the pash rusher falls and then we go second round QB. I hate myself. 

[smaxor5]

We have nearly 100 million dollars in cap space.  Why do people think we're going to get "held hostage"?

[nycdan]

3 minutes ago, bla bla bla said:

You think if we miss on Cousins we won't take a QB this year? I'd have to imagine Macc will be gone if that situation happens. 

I agree.  But we've already passed on two potential answers because they weren't enough "value" at the position.  If he thinks Allen isn't worth picking in the top-10, and the other three are gone by Denver's pick, what do you think will happen?  Our GM not only doesn't seem inclined - based on past history - to move up to get the right guy, but he seems happy to trade down away from a guy we do need (Elflein) in order to squander picks on players with less upside.  That one was inexplicable to me.  

To answer your question, I - unfortunately - can very much see Macc waiting until the 2nd round to draft a QB this year, figuring someone between Falk, Rudolph or Jackson would appease the fanbase enough to bring McCown back for another year.  And that's with him assuming at least one of them will even be there.

[#27TheDominator]

10 minutes ago, smaxor5 said:

We have nearly 100 million dollars in cap space.  Why do people think we're going to get "held hostage"?

Having the cap space makes it more likely IMO.  If you only have $30M, it is pretty easy to come to a number and say you will work his deal in, but moving deals around.  We basically can structure a deal any way we want - or any way his agent wants.  Can't say our wife won't let us pay.

[Beerfish]

1 hour ago, The Crusher said:

Macc needs to realize he is not getting Cousins and needs to game the gamer. Should be working his butt off behind the scenes trying to set up the groundwork to get his guy in the draft.,( hopefully a QB) Has to be prepared to trade and move up to get the QB he wants. Ewww, that really doesn’t make me feel any better.  

I am not confident because it seemed they had no plan B at all in the whole fitz resigning thing

[bla bla bla]

20 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

I’m in the we go Minkah then a second round QB camp. My second guess is the guard then second round QB. My outside scenario is the pash rusher falls and then we go second round QB. I hate myself. 

I think that is just the pessimist inside you talking because it would seem that goes against the moves Macc made over the last year. (namely getting the 2nd rounder for Sheldon) I also think Macc will have his back against a wall so that will help pull the QB trigger in round 1 too. 

[bla bla bla]

17 minutes ago, nycdan said:

I agree.  But we've already passed on two potential answers because they weren't enough "value" at the position.  If he thinks Allen isn't worth picking in the top-10, and the other three are gone by Denver's pick, what do you think will happen?  Our GM not only doesn't seem inclined - based on past history - to move up to get the right guy, but he seems happy to trade down away from a guy we do need (Elflein) in order to squander picks on players with less upside.  That one was inexplicable to me.  

To answer your question, I - unfortunately - can very much see Macc waiting until the 2nd round to draft a QB this year, figuring someone between Falk, Rudolph or Jackson would appease the fanbase enough to bring McCown back for another year.  And that's with him assuming at least one of them will even be there.

For what it's worth Elflein graded out as the 32nd center, still would have been an upgrade over Johnson who ranked 36th but I'm not really losing sleep over it (even though I wanted him too). I think there were too many question marks on the QBs last year combined with Macc wanting to see Hack in action to pull the trigger on a QB. This year we now know Hack is not the answer so I'd have to imagine we don't pass on QB's this time around. I think we got that 2nd for Sheldon because we knew we'd need the ammo to move up to get our guy. If Cousins goes to Minnesota I think there is a really strong chance that we are moving up. I think there are reasonable answers to why a trade up didn't happen during the Wentz draft and outside of that he really hasn't had an opportunity to move up because teams weren't willing to move the picks.

[The Crusher]

15 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

I am not confident because it seemed they had no plan B at all in the whole fitz resigning thing

I know. That’s is why no matter how hard I try to think this going to be different I know it’s not. The real bad part but is so does everyone else. 

[The Crusher]

7 minutes ago, bla bla bla said:

I think that is just the pessimist inside you talking because it would seem that goes against the moves Macc made over the last year. (namely getting the 2nd rounder for Sheldon) I also think Macc will have his back against a wall so that will help pull the QB trigger in round 1 too. 

Thank you my good friend. I needed that! 

[bla bla bla]

17 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

I am not confident because it seemed they had no plan B at all in the whole fitz resigning thing

I really don't think there were many options outside of Fitz that offseason especially given the way he played and the fact the entire roster was petitioning to get him back. There are so many more options this offseason than there were that year IMO.

[MDL_JET]

7 minutes ago, bla bla bla said:

I really don't think there were many options outside of Fitz that offseason especially given the way he played and the fact the entire roster was petitioning to get him back. There are so many more options this offseason than there were that year IMO.

Eh. IMO its Cousins or trade up for your guy. 

Every other available option is a younger version of McCown. Just a bridge guy. 

[bla bla bla]

15 minutes ago, MDL_JET said:

Eh. IMO its Cousins or trade up for your guy. 

Every other available option is a younger version of McCown. Just a bridge guy. 

Sorry I don't think I was clear. I meant Cousins, Rosen, Darnold, Allen, and Mayfield are more options than Goff and Wentz. I agree with you on the bridge option as well but even then I think that market is far more plentiful than it was when we had just Fitz. 

[JiFtheOracle]

On the plus side of the Cousins pursuit, Mac has been stellar at attracting big name FA to the Jets like Revis, Cromartie, Gilchrist, Skrine, Forte, etc.  And look how great they've been! 

 

[Augustiniak]

28 minutes ago, MDL_JET said:

Eh. IMO its Cousins or trade up for your guy. 

Every other available option is a younger version of McCown. Just a bridge guy. 

which mccagnan could have done 3 years ago but now he's used all his lifelines and his job depends on cousins or drafting a qb top 6.  

though, i could see the guy's wheels spinning, when nelson or minkah are there at 6 and he takes that guy over a qb.  then he trades back into the back of the first round and drafts lamar jackson and the next day bowles announces that mccown is the starting qb while jackson 'learns'.  

[bla bla bla]

1 minute ago, JiF said:

On the plus side of the Cousins pursuit, Mac has been stellar at attracting big name FA to the Jets like Revis, Cromartie, Gilchrist, Skrine, Forte, etc.  And look how great they've been!

Also offered big money to Vernon and Osemele.