Below is a post from another site that I think gives a pretty good indication of what the Jets will be able to do in free agency. The poster forgot the dead money hit of $1,742,752, which brings the cap hit up to $110,920,892. If the cap is around $125 million as I have seen it estimated, that leaves roughly $14 million for the Jets to sign their draft picks and other end of the roster/depth and STs players to bring the roster up to 53. Notice that there is only one OLB and no safeties on this posters list of those that are currently signed that he feels the Jets must definitely keep. If you add those players who are currently signed and on the roster at those positions (Garrett McIntyre, Tracy Wilson, Gerald Alexander, and Eric Smith) then you have to subtract $2,780,000 from that $14 million, leaving roughly a little over $11 million with which to sign their own FAs and add the additional 16 players to the roster, unless they cut some or all of those 4. Signing Pouha, Turner, Leonard, Westermann, P. Turner, Cole, and maybe Lankster could use up over half of that amount. Barring some restructuring of deals, the Jets may be forced to keep Conley, Folk, and Brunell, and may not be able to afford to bring back Thomas (unless he will play for the vet minimum) or LT (has already said he won't sign for the vet minimum). Thus while ideally the team would sign a FA S like Griffin and a FA RT like McKenzie, they may not be able to. They may have to go with a younger, cheaper player at those positions and hope those players will develop. It also looks like they will be unable to cut Holmes unless they can induce Sanchez to take a big pay cut or release him, which ain't gonna happen. Tanny has already created problems last season trying to add a couple of million in cap space (which wasn't used) by guaranteeing Scott's and Pace's salaries this season, so they can't be cut and shouldn't be restructured again even if they could/would, because that just makes getting rid of them more costly. Just a year or two ago, they release Brandon Moore to add cap space. Would they dare do that again? I hope not. Those of you wanting Manning or a big named FA can forget it, unless the cap surprisingly jumps to $130 million or more.
Does that take into account the restructure of the Sanchez contract? I haven't seen the exact details of that restructure yet.
Dunno. Unless it's dramatically different, however, I don't know that it will make a lot of difference. It may enable the Jets to sign a lower tier FA or two, but that's probably about it.
I still have a feeling a major FA signing will occur. Not sure who and when, but Tanny has something brewing
Tough to see Pace and Scott staying at those prices, but I have no clue what the cap hit would be for cutting them. Too much math for my tiny brain.
The unused cap space from 2011 can be carried forward? I hadn't heard that before. If so, that will definitely help, but still probably won't allow for any big name signings, especially Manning as some fans want.
It could have been done to lower the 2012 cap hit by back-loading some of the contract in the form of guaranteed money and paying it to him up front. I had been under the impression that the space would be used to sign offensive line help this offseason. Co-sign on McKenzie, BTW, it was a mistake to let that guy leave the building.
The link gives that info. Pace would cost the Jets a $1,763,335 dead money cap hit. Scott would cost $1,250,000 in dead money. The problem is that Tanny guaranteed their contracts this year for taking a $1 million pay cut last season, which he didn't even wind up using. That would definitely serve as a deterrent to future players from trying to help the team by taking a cut or restructuring. Also, the team would have two fewer starters and approx. $3 million less with which to find their replacements.
That's because he has a compulsive need to make a big splash. The team would be much better served if he forgot making that big splash, and instead signed 3-4 lower tier players who could help address depth and some of the holes on the team. If nothing else, he could quite possibly sign a S (Griffin) and RT (McKenzie) for less than what he'd pay that major FA.
McKenzie is a much better run blocking option than Hunter, but he actually gave up more pressures this year than Hunter did.
No math at all... their contract is FULLY guaranteed for 2012. As for the Sanchez' restructuring, wasn't it simply 500k in 2011 get moved to 2013?
The simple answer is they can't cut either Scott or Pace next year, the cap hit is huge so they are on the team unless they retire and given the guarantees they aren't retiring.
If Holmes were to 'accidentally' fall into an open sewer and die a slow, agonizing death, would we still have to pay him???
