Joe Douglas spent a lot of money in free agency and he’ll need to spend a lot more to sign his 10 draft picks this spring.
The Jets head into the 2021 draft with almost $25 million in salary cap space, but they will use about $16 million on their picks, according to Over The Cap. That includes an estimated $6.391 million on the No. 2 pick and $2.426 million on the No. 23 pick. If Douglas doesn’t sign anyone else of significance, the Jets will have almost $9 million in cap space left for the 2021 season. A lot of that will likely carry over to 2022 unless the Jets make a major move during the season that eats up the rest of the salary cap.
This is why Douglas made the moves he did last year and this offseason to inflate the Jets’ cap space. He gave himself enough money to sign these picks without having to jettison quality starters and will still have some leftover cash to spend at various positions of need once he makes his selections.
There are several quality veterans still on the market Douglas could sign once the draft is over and undrafted free agents are signed.
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