Jets' Joe Douglas Facing Salary Cap Crisis This Offseason

[doitny]

bad news

 

Here's an inside look at the financial numbers that Joe Douglas and the Jets are dealing with this offseason, trying to build a postseason contender

 

There continues to be so much chatter amongst Jets' fans and mainstream Jets' media about which big name veteran quarterback the team is going to go and get.

 

The salary cap is the sobering factor facing the Jets and their team General Manager, Joe Douglas.

Currently, New York's cap is in the negative.

As of now, the Jets are projected to be $2.7 million over the cap ($2,674,607 to be exact). And yet, there is this mainstream thought process that the Jets are going to sign a high priced veteran quarterback?

The rebuttal is New York can clear cap space, but the question is how?

Outside of restructuring some existing contracts, the options are limited.

A total of $3,351,340 is allotted to this next draft class.

There are other issues too Douglas is facing too.

Currently, only seven offensive linemen are under contract for 2023 (four of them are coming off an injury list). There are 24 free agents total who were with the team in 2022, who are no longer under contract.

Those positions and needs will have to take priority over a high-priced veteran quarterback, because without a viable offensive line (and offensive line depth), none of these veteran signal-callers would remotely be interested in playing in New York.

The supporting cast at other positions is equally as important, when courting a veteran quarterback. These field generals want to go places that give them the best chance of winning a Super Bowl, not end up on a team fighting for last place.

 

 

 Douglas has allotted big deals to certain veteran players that carry serious dead cap space implications if cut prior to June 1. These veterans are Laken Tomlinson ($12.7M), D.J. Reed ($10.5M), and C.J. Uzomah ($8.0M).

It's not as easy as cutting quarterback Zach Wilson either when by doing so would leave behind $20,770,856 of dead cap space this season or $15,039,823 post-June 1.

Teams tend to wait until after June 1 to cut veterans to lessen the cap blow, but by then it's too late to upgrade the roster much, which is by design. There is an allowance to designate two players prior to June 1 as "post-June 1 designations," which helps keep teams in compliance with the salary cap.

The two most likely candidates for this designation would be linebacker C.J. Mosley who is scheduled to be a $21.7M cap hit ($4,476,000 post June 1 dead money), and offensive tackle Duane Brown ($9M cap hit, $1,576,000 post June 1 dead money).

Who are some of the current veterans who carry low dead cap weight prior to June 1 Douglas could cut (that still would need to be replaced)?

• DE Carl Lawson ($15M dead cap hit $333,334)
• DE John Franklin-Myers ($11.4M dead cap hit $1.2M)
• WR Corey Davis ($10.5M dead cap hit $666,667)
• S Jordan Whitehead ($6.75M dead cap hit $2,982,500)

So Douglas could clear roughly $62 million by cutting these six players prior to June 1, but they would need to be replaced on the roster, plus there's still the issue of the offensive line and the 24 current Jets' free agents.

Las Vegas' quarterback Derek Carr will carry a 2023 cap number of $32.9M, and signal caller Aaron Rodgers is scheduled to count $31,623,568 against Green Bay's cap.

The expected market value of the top free agent quarterbacks isn't much better. Tom Brady is expected to command an annual salary of $40.8M, Lamar Jackson ($40.7M), Geno Smith ($39.9M) Jimmy Garoppolo ($34.9M), Daniel Jones ($25.5M), and Taylor Heinicke ($19.8M).

The 24 free agents the Jets will need to resign or replace are: (QB) Mike White, (QB) Joe Flacco, (RB) Ty Johnson, (OT) George Fant, (OT) Cedric Ogbuehi, (OT) Mike Remmers, (C) Connor McGovern, (OG) Dan Feeney, (DE) Solomon Thomas, (DE) Vinny Curry, (DE) Nathan Shepherd, (OG) Nate Herbig, (DT) Sheldon Rankins, (K) Greg Zuerlein, (FS) LaMarus Joyner, (LB) Kwon Alexander, (LB) Quincy Williams and (LB) Marcell Harris.

The following restricted free agents to address: (FB) Nick Bawden, (OT) Greg Senat, (WR) Jeff Smith, (WR) Lawrence Cager, (LB) Bryce Huff, and (RB) James Robinson.

Without these 24 players what does New York's team look like? Who would replace them and what would their cap numbers be?

If they do re-sign all of them, how much of that $62 million would they take (last year these 24 contracts added up to $54,127,176).

This doesn't leave much money for anything else and for sure not an upper echelon high-priced veteran quarterback. 

[bitonti]

Jd pushed all in last year, the 4th year of his contract. This year 5 he's gonna be scrambling

Yes there's a scenario where they cut Carl Lawson and Corey Davis and trade for Aaron Rodgers but it's such a small chance of happening its not really worth talking about 

Because they'd have to replace 25 of 53 roster spots and players cost money 

[Creepy Lurker]

2 minutes ago, bitonti said:

Jd pushed all in last year, the 4th year of his contract. This year 5 he's gonna be scrambling

Yes there's a scenario where they cut Carl Lawson and Corey Davis and trade for Aaron Rodgers but it's such a small chance of happening its not really worth talking about 

Because they'd have to replace 25 of 53 roster spots and players cost money 

There is no “sustained success” plan and the MAJOR mistakes with Becton and Wilson, really set this team back. Now it’s just about spending to make a 1 year push and we are back to square one. 2023 is the lame duck year and then the rebuild begins. 

[GreenFish]

Don't agree that it's a crisis. We can cut players and restructure salaries. Fitting a veteran QB will not be a problem. We just can't do much beyond that and retaining our players.

[Barry McCockinner]

The idea that there's a cap crisis it's laughable. What a joke.

[shuler82]

Interesting how a crisis constitutes being at the cap with several options to clear a good amount of space.  

its not ideal but every other team in the league somehow manages it.

[Larz]

The restructuring got waived off in the article but it’s something JD needs to push for sure. 

[JetsAddict]

12 minutes ago, Creepy Lurker said:

There is no “sustained success” plan and the MAJOR mistakes with Becton and Wilson, really set this team back. Now it’s just about spending to make a 1 year push and we are back to square one. 2023 is the lame duck year and then the rebuild begins. 

The concern is how much damage will these guys do to try to save their jobs?

[Larz]

9 minutes ago, shuler82 said:

Interesting how a crises constitutes being at the cap with several options to clear a good amount of space.  

its not ideal but every other team in the league somehow manages it.

The saints I think it was cleared like 25 million for Hill if I’m not mistaken last offseason with “juggling” so yeah he has chips to play. 

[jvill 51]

“Crisis” is laughable. They’re right around middle of the pack in cap space. Not a ton to play with like recent years but it’s a more than manageable situation.

[bla bla bla]

The Jets will have plenty of space for their own FAs + QB. Rodgers Cap hit is only $15m in 2023, it's not going to be a problem. In fact, outside of Lamar, you could probably land any QB + your FAs + a Quinnen extension without sweating too much

[doitny]

i get what there saying. take Laken for example, do we give up on him after one bad year? ok then we have to replace him and it probably will cost us the same. Brown? 9 mil is not alot of money for an OT. decent replacements will cost more than 9 mil.

we could save 62 mil to cut 6 players but we needed 54 mil to sign 24 FAs. 

you cut CJ and QW will take up his cap spot.

Kwon and the other Williams should be resigned. cant go into next season with 3 new starting LBs who have to learn the system. and im guessing Williams should get a decent raise.

were lucky to have enough to sign Minschew. and then its Zach at 2 and Strev at 3. no money to get a 4th QB.

and CD making 10 mil in this market for WRs isnt bad.

its going to be hard for JD but im guessing were not getting any FAs that are going to make us happy. any FAs that make us go...wow cant believe we got that guy

[Bosleyjet74]

Plus next year they have over 100 million in cap space so easy to renegotiate if needed.  

[slimjasi]

2.7 million over the cap is a "crisis" now?

Why is the media so bad at everything?

[BigRy56]

Salary cap crisis?

[Sonny Werblin]

This adds up to

[Darnold Schwarzenegger]

 

only team missing on this list is the saints who are 58 million over the cap. Jets are about 20th in cap space. Not too bad. Like others said there are a few notable cuts than can get us plenty of space. 
 

of those 24 free agents I would only want to resign 3-5 of those guys. (Kwon, huff, Herbig, legatron).  The 24 free agents are mostly bottom of the roster players that can easily be  replaced for cheap.

[choon328]

The salary cap is a myth, please stop with this nonsense.  There are so many ways to create space and add players that it is ridiculous to worry about the cap at all. 

[Hal N of Provo]

1 hour ago, choon328 said:

The salary cap is a myth, please stop with this nonsense.  There are so many ways to create space and add players that it is ridiculous to worry about the cap at all. 

Eventually you have to pay but the Jets haven’t even started kicking the fan down the road yet 

[Maxman]

3 hours ago, GreenFish said:

Don't agree that it's a crisis. We can cut players and restructure salaries. Fitting a veteran QB will not be a problem. We just can't do much beyond that and retaining our players.

 

3 hours ago, Barry McCockinner said:

The idea that there's a cap crisis it's laughable. What a joke.

Not sure who wrote this but well, it isn't a good article. Let's just leave it at that.

[Maxman]

2 hours ago, Bosleyjet74 said:

Plus next year they have over 100 million in cap space so easy to renegotiate if needed.  

Exactly. It is amazing how little thought went into this article.

[undertow]

2 hours ago, choon328 said:

The salary cap is a myth, please stop with this nonsense.  There are so many ways to create space and add players that it is ridiculous to worry about the cap at all. 

This was initially meant to be a joke or exaggeration but now dummies repeat it and they are serious......of course you can manipulate the cap and go all in but eventually you will have to bottom out like the Rams are doing now.   

[JoeNamathsFurCoat]

The Uzomah and Conk deals are so bad

 

[Sperm Edwards]

3 hours ago, Bosleyjet74 said:

Plus next year they have over 100 million in cap space so easy to renegotiate if needed.  

Ding-ding-ding!

$100MM is actually more because that figure presumes, through both the full 2023 and 2024 seasons, the Jets will still be retaining CJM (at yet another $17MM if they even keep him for $17MM in 2023); Tomlinson; Uzomah & Conklin with no more guaranteed money; and more.  You can safely add another $50MM+ to that $100M figure, and the only player who's a slam dunk to extend - who's scheduled to be a FA in 2024 - is Quinnen Williams, with the next-most likely to get extended being Whitehead, or Becton if he has a full lights-out season in 2023.

There's no good reason to leave SO much cap space in 2024 to the detriment of 2023's season. It's not a good thing to have to find ways to spend $100-150MM, which is a recipe for throwing money at bad just for the sake of spending it.

Cut who they need, restructure who they need, whatever they need to do to clear whatever space they think they need this year. If they end up with a mere $50MM in cap room next year after doing so, then bfd.

Crisis, lol. 

[Jetsfan80]

47 minutes ago, undertow said:

This was initially meant to be a joke or exaggeration but now dummies repeat it and they are serious......of course you can manipulate the cap and go all in but eventually you will have to bottom out like the Rams are doing now.   

True, but the Rams are also bottoming out largely by basically not having any 1st round picks over a 10-year period.  Cap is a bit secondary to that.  Team got old, fast.  

[AFJF]

4 hours ago, doitny said:

bad news

 

Here's an inside look at the financial numbers that Joe Douglas and the Jets are dealing with this offseason, trying to build a postseason contender

 

There continues to be so much chatter amongst Jets' fans and mainstream Jets' media about which big name veteran quarterback the team is going to go and get.

 

The salary cap is the sobering factor facing the Jets and their team General Manager, Joe Douglas.

Currently, New York's cap is in the negative.

As of now, the Jets are projected to be $2.7 million over the cap ($2,674,607 to be exact). And yet, there is this mainstream thought process that the Jets are going to sign a high priced veteran quarterback?

The rebuttal is New York can clear cap space, but the question is how?

Outside of restructuring some existing contracts, the options are limited.

A total of $3,351,340 is allotted to this next draft class.

There are other issues too Douglas is facing too.

Currently, only seven offensive linemen are under contract for 2023 (four of them are coming off an injury list). There are 24 free agents total who were with the team in 2022, who are no longer under contract.

Those positions and needs will have to take priority over a high-priced veteran quarterback, because without a viable offensive line (and offensive line depth), none of these veteran signal-callers would remotely be interested in playing in New York.

The supporting cast at other positions is equally as important, when courting a veteran quarterback. These field generals want to go places that give them the best chance of winning a Super Bowl, not end up on a team fighting for last place.

 

 

 Douglas has allotted big deals to certain veteran players that carry serious dead cap space implications if cut prior to June 1. These veterans are Laken Tomlinson ($12.7M), D.J. Reed ($10.5M), and C.J. Uzomah ($8.0M).

It's not as easy as cutting quarterback Zach Wilson either when by doing so would leave behind $20,770,856 of dead cap space this season or $15,039,823 post-June 1.

Teams tend to wait until after June 1 to cut veterans to lessen the cap blow, but by then it's too late to upgrade the roster much, which is by design. There is an allowance to designate two players prior to June 1 as "post-June 1 designations," which helps keep teams in compliance with the salary cap.

The two most likely candidates for this designation would be linebacker C.J. Mosley who is scheduled to be a $21.7M cap hit ($4,476,000 post June 1 dead money), and offensive tackle Duane Brown ($9M cap hit, $1,576,000 post June 1 dead money).

Who are some of the current veterans who carry low dead cap weight prior to June 1 Douglas could cut (that still would need to be replaced)?

• DE Carl Lawson ($15M dead cap hit $333,334)
• DE John Franklin-Myers ($11.4M dead cap hit $1.2M)
• WR Corey Davis ($10.5M dead cap hit $666,667)
• S Jordan Whitehead ($6.75M dead cap hit $2,982,500)

So Douglas could clear roughly $62 million by cutting these six players prior to June 1, but they would need to be replaced on the roster, plus there's still the issue of the offensive line and the 24 current Jets' free agents.

Las Vegas' quarterback Derek Carr will carry a 2023 cap number of $32.9M, and signal caller Aaron Rodgers is scheduled to count $31,623,568 against Green Bay's cap.

The expected market value of the top free agent quarterbacks isn't much better. Tom Brady is expected to command an annual salary of $40.8M, Lamar Jackson ($40.7M), Geno Smith ($39.9M) Jimmy Garoppolo ($34.9M), Daniel Jones ($25.5M), and Taylor Heinicke ($19.8M).

The 24 free agents the Jets will need to resign or replace are: (QB) Mike White, (QB) Joe Flacco, (RB) Ty Johnson, (OT) George Fant, (OT) Cedric Ogbuehi, (OT) Mike Remmers, (C) Connor McGovern, (OG) Dan Feeney, (DE) Solomon Thomas, (DE) Vinny Curry, (DE) Nathan Shepherd, (OG) Nate Herbig, (DT) Sheldon Rankins, (K) Greg Zuerlein, (FS) LaMarus Joyner, (LB) Kwon Alexander, (LB) Quincy Williams and (LB) Marcell Harris.

The following restricted free agents to address: (FB) Nick Bawden, (OT) Greg Senat, (WR) Jeff Smith, (WR) Lawrence Cager, (LB) Bryce Huff, and (RB) James Robinson.

Without these 24 players what does New York's team look like? Who would replace them and what would their cap numbers be?

If they do re-sign all of them, how much of that $62 million would they take (last year these 24 contracts added up to $54,127,176).

This doesn't leave much money for anything else and for sure not an upper echelon high-priced veteran quarterback. 

LOL.  Saw "Joe Douglas facing salary" and in my head said "let me guess, cap crisis".

Everything is a god damn crisis.

 

More accurate headline would be, "Jets set to make moves to create cap space".

Crisis averted. 

[jamesr]

Ummm ... Lawrence Cager listed as a RFA?

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[k-met57]

7 hours ago, Barry McCockinner said:

The idea that there's a cap crisis it's laughable. What a joke.

the rams agree

[kevinc855]

Joe Douglas bet all his chips on Zach Wilson. He literally said one of the reasons to trade sam was to “reset” financially on the QB position. He thought he be able to build around a guy on a rookie contract. It blew up spectacularly in his face last year. Now we are where we are.

Fans don’t seem to grasp how bad missing on Zach was for this organization. It wasn’t “just another whiff” as some fans want to paint it as. The entire rebuild plan by JD was centered on Zach. Now that It’s proven JD got Zach wrong we are ****ed. 
  
Wake up Jet fans 

[Creepy Lurker]

30 minutes ago, kevinc855 said:

Joe Douglas bet all his chips on Zach Wilson. He literally said one of the reasons to trade sam was to “reset” financially on the QB position. He thought he be able to build around a guy on a rookie contract. It blew up spectacularly in his face last year. Now we are where we are.

Fans don’t seem to grasp how bad missing on Zach was for this organization. It wasn’t “just another whiff” as some fans want to paint it as. The entire rebuild plan by JD was centered on Zach. Now that It’s proven JD got Zach wrong we are ****ed. 
  
Wake up Jet fans 

100%. This team is built for a relatively cheap QB on a rookie deal so spending can occur elsewhere. The mismanagement, timing and lack of developing Wilson/having him sit, was a MAJOR mistake that will haunt this franchise. It’s almost better to use money fixing the OL and other holes while drafting another rookie QB just to not lose draft picks in a trade or overpay for a Vet QB that can cripple the team if they suck.
 

Ultimately, it does not matter at all since JD and Salad are likely gone. It’s a shame that they went all in on a such horrendous player instead of trading down and the consequences are having such a ripple effect. 

[slats]

6 hours ago, choon328 said:

The salary cap is a myth, please stop with this nonsense.  There are so many ways to create space and add players that it is ridiculous to worry about the cap at all. 

It is also a myth that the salary cap is a myth. 
 
The Jets are not in crisis, and JD did not go all in last year, either. He mortgaged exactly one contract, Mosley’s, and has a number of deals to operate with this season that have high salaries and little or no guaranteed money left. He’s managed the cap efficiently so far in his tenure, and has a lot moves to make. 
 
Now this could be a push in the chips type season that’s either successful or screws the next guy. Around here, since Parcells at least, screwing the next guy is usually how it works. 

[kevinc855]

27 minutes ago, slats said:

Now this could be a push in the chips type season

It’s his make or break year. He still hasn’t gotten a contract extension. He knows he needs playoffs this year. He’s going all in 

[Matt39]

8 hours ago, Creepy Lurker said:

There is no “sustained success” plan and the MAJOR mistakes with Becton and Wilson, really set this team back. Now it’s just about spending to make a 1 year push and we are back to square one. 2023 is the lame duck year and then the rebuild begins. 

Rebuild should be starting this season. 

[Hael]

Most of the contracts JD signed are what I would consider 'good' contracts in the sense that the Jets weren't being fleeced given the productivity of the player the previous year.  The only really bad contract was CJ Mosley from the previous administration.

Of course, if you miss on a FA (like Laken) you are still going to be hit with their full value if you decide to cut them after only 1 year, and it does hurt (the salary cap isn't a myth).

I do think there is a little less flexibility than people think.  If we signed Q Williams to a monster contract, and signed a high priced qb (Aaron Rogers), we probably would not be able to also cut Laken and upgrade him with a FA.  Instead we'd have to look to the draft.

[rangerous]

on that list maybe 5 players are really worth keeping and only if a replacement can't be found at similar cap numbers.  as sperm pointed out they will have 100 million in space the next season so they should be able to spread thing out a bit if they need to after cutting some of the big ticket players like lawson or davis or berrios.  the salary cap ebbs and flows.