Suddenly, Joe Douglas and the Jets find themselves with a lot of extra money.
The Jets have a little more than $30 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap, after C.J. Mosley opted out of the 2020 season and a couple of roster cuts that included guard Brian Winters. There could be more cap casualties to come – don’t expect inside linebacker Avery Williamson to be one – but Douglas now has a lot of financial flexibility to work with.
What Douglas decides to do with that money will be indicative of his thoughts on the Jets’ competitiveness this season. He already said he wasn’t “punting on 2020” after trading safety Jamal Adams, but that was before the Jets also lost their starting inside linebacker and leader of the defense, Mosley.
If Douglas feels confident in the Jets’ ability to win the division or make the playoffs, he should spend some of that cap space on players who will upgrade the Jets at various positions of need. That includes edge rusher, cornerback, wide receiver and possibly replacing Mosley at inside linebacker. Players like edge rushers Jadeveon Clowney and Everson Griffin, defensive back Logan Ryan and wide receiver Paul Richardson are all available but would command more money than Douglas probably wants to spend right now, especially on one-year deals. Signing any of those players would help the Jets in the short-term but at the cost of salary cap this season.
Another possibility Douglas could entertain now that the Jets have more cap space is trading for a player and extending him. Yes, I’m talking about Jaguars edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue, who plans to holdout as he seeks a trade and/or a new contract. Douglas could make the move to bolster the Jets’ pass rush immediately in 2020 and in the future if he trades for and signs Ngakoue to a lucrative extension. They have the money to give Ngakoue at least $20 million per year if that’s the player Douglas wants to pay. There are other players he could be targeting in trades as well, given the Jets’ dearth of talent at various positions and abundance of draft capital.
The alternative – if Douglas doesn’t think the Jets are good enough to compete in 2020 – is to do nothing with the extra money and hold onto it for next offseason. That seems to be the most likely scenario.
Right now, the Jets are slated to have $76.27 million in cap space in 2021. That number could be even greater if the Douglas cuts players like Le’Veon Bell, Jamison Crowder, Henry Anderson and George Fant, whose releases would add as much as $35.6 million to next year’s cap space. That’s a lot of money to play with, especially if the Jets want to extend Sam Darnold. Since the salary cap could drop to as low as $175 million in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, holding onto as much money as possible now would make the Jets one of the most cap-flexible teams next year.
Considering how Douglas played his first free agency as the Jets’ GM, it’s more likely than not he won’t make any major moves the rest of this year that could hinder that flexibility in 2021.
He signed players to mostly one-year deals this offseason before the Adams trade, signaling his plan to reevaluate the roster next offseason with even more money. The effects the pandemic will have on the salary cap and Mosley’s opt-out only add to that mentality. While Winters’ cut opens up the possibility Douglas spends more money this offseason, it will probably be smaller contracts for players who fill depth holes on the roster rather than big swings like Clowney, Ryan or trading for Ngakoue.
There is still so much uncertainty with this season – between player opt-outs, how games will actually be played and the financial implications of some fan-less stadiums – so it would be a waste of money to pay top-dollar for players on one-year deals just to not make the playoffs again and if Douglas doesn’t plan on extending them next offseason.
The more prudent measure is to sit on the cash and reevaluate the NFL landscape in a post-pandemic world. This seems to be Douglas’ approach during his year-plus tenure as general manager, so it wouldn’t be surprising for that to continue as the 2020 season draws closer.