We’re only a few days into the 2020 league year and the Jets are paying out roster bonuses for a few of their best players. C.J. Mosley, Sam Darnold, Steve McLendon and Ryan Griffin all received varying portions of their 2020 salaries on Sunday, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini.
Mosley, who only played two games in 2019 after suffering a groin injury in Week 1, earned the largest roster bonus of the four at $10 million. He heads into the second year of the five-year, $85 million contract he signed last offseason. Mosley’s $17.5 million cap hit in 2020 ranks first among Jets players. His contract doesn’t call for a roster bonus in any of the final three years, but his base salary rises dramatically from $6 million in 2020 to $16 million in 2021 and $17 million in 2022 and 2023.
Darnold enters the third year of his rookie deal and just picked up a $2,569,790 roster bonus. He only has a base salary of $750,000 but does have a $5,019,584 signing bonus to round out his $8.339,374 cap hit this season. Darnold isn’t going anywhere considering he’s the Jets’ franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future and comes with a $17.9 million dead cap hit.
The Jets just picked up the 2021 extension of tight end Ryan Griffin and a day later he earned a $918,000 bonus. Griffin excelled with the Jets as a replacement for Chris Herndon and could become a big part of the offense in 2020 after hauling in 34 receptions for 320 yards and five touchdowns.
Finally, veteran nose tackle Steve McLendon received a $1.25 million roster bonus – a little over half of his 2020 salary. The 34-year-old McLendon signed a one-year, $3 million extension on Oct. 12, 2019, and his veteran presence helped the young Jets defensive line throughout the year. McLendon hasn’t missed a single game since 2017 and he wracked up 2.5 sacks in 2019.
In other Jets contract news, safety Jamal Adams earned his $2.765 million roster bonus Friday and wide receiver Quincy Enunwa’s $6 million base salary became fully guaranteed despite him not being medically cleared from a neck injury yet.
As of this article, the Jets have an estimated $42,760,353 in salary cap space, per Spotrac, and a lot of work left to do this offseason.