The Jets figured to be major players during the first wave of free agency. But in his first full offseason as general manager, Joe Douglas has shown that he won’t make the same mistakes as his predecessors and spend wildly on big names. Instead, as the new league officially began Wednesday, it looks like Douglas is hoping to find value wherever he can rather than overpay.
While other teams scooped up top-tier cornerbacks, linebackers and offensive linemen for boatloads of money, the Jets appeared to strikeout. Jack Conklin, Dante Fowler, James Bradberry and Graham Glasglow were the most surprising names to see the Jets miss on.
A lot of these failures to sign appear to be price-related, though. While Mike Maccagnan handed out money like he was playing Monopoly, Douglas appears to have a number in his mind and is unwavering in his evaluation. Take a look at Conklin and Fowler, for instance. The Jets reportedly never exceeded the Browns’ offer of three years, $42 million, nor were they willing to give Fowler the three-year, $48 million deal he got from the Falcons. Teams simply have to shell out cash for the players they want. Douglas, however, seems to have his eye on value more than anything.
By looking at the transactions and contracts, it seems to be by design.
Douglas looks to be a prudent and frugal team builder. All of his deals thus far appear to be team-friendly and give him lots of flexibility after 2020. He gave a three-year, $27.3 million contract with $13.7 million guaranteed to George Fant, a raw but promising lineman. In reality, the contract is really only a one-year, $9.25 million deal – much more manageable if Fant doesn’t pan out. Brian Poole is coming back on a ridiculously low one-year, $5 million deal after grading as one of the best cornerbacks in the league in 2019 and lineman Alex Lews re-signed on a three-year, $18.6 million deal with only $6 million guaranteed.
The only free agent Douglas has given a lot of money to so far is center Connor McGovern, and for good reason. McGovern, who signed a three-year, $27 million contract with $18 million guaranteed, proved to be one of the best centers in the league thanks to his durability, production and lack of penalties. Douglas saw value in that and paid what was needed to bring McGovern into the fold.
It’s not a failure on Douglas’ part to be unwilling to chew up cap space on free agents. That’s how the Jets have gotten into the same spiral of destitute over the last decade. Just look at the Trumaine Johnson deal, which will cost the Jets money this season even though he won’t play for them. Douglas proved already he’s willing to lose out on marquee free agents and settle for mid-tier players on team-friendly contracts. Don’t forget, he also has a couple of early-round picks to use properly in next month’s draft.
We’re only a few days into free agency and the Jets still have over $41 million in cap space. That’s a win for a team that is still building and a general manager who likes to invest carefully.