Idkzik doesn't seem like the type to sign big money guaranteed contracts out of desperation. He'll pay a player no more than their market value in order to keep the team salary structure balanced. That's smart business.
Very true, but Harris has played very well. For sure it's been a bounce-back season for him. Looks rejuvenated to me...
Totally agree with the poster who said Wilkerson needs to be taken care of. Guy needs to be a Jet for life.
Just a guess but I think Sanchez, Holmes and Cro are all gone. Holmes and Cro are both 30 next year and both looking a bit down in the mouth this year. That generally doesn't get better after 30 it gets worse. Bubble players will probably be Colon, Winslow and Landry for the same age-related reasons. I don't see the Jets doing anything at all with Harris, D'Brick and Mangold next year. The cap numbers are acceptable on all of them and the cash out on the year is not that bad either. The Jets will have the cap space to just let those contracts roll on for a change and I think for 2014 they will probably do just that. All 3 guys are 30 or older next year and the Jets will be watching closely for signs on what to do in 2015.
Sanchez and Holmes are definitely gone. Cutting them still costs us 7.3 mil of dead cap unfortunately, but that is much better than 23.8 mil. I'll take the 16.5 mil savings as a no brainer. Cro is a tricky one. While the 14.9 mil hit looks crazy high, remember he agreed to defer over 4mil of his contract to next years cap (as we desperately needed to free up 2013 cap). So we mortgaged a little of Cro's future number this year, and i don't think we cut him. A little restructuring again might be a strong possibility. Harris we shouldn't cut just to save 5 mil. Not worth it....we need him and his play this year with the improved D line has returned to form. Mangold and D'brick are practically guaranteed contracts. they aren't going anywhere nor should they. Goodson, Landry, Barnes and Ijalana stand out as guys who could get cut based on their number if we can upgrade those positions. We'll have plenty of cap to work with, and extending Mo is priority 1.
Sanchez and Holmes will be cut. Harris will likely be asked to restructure. He is good but not worth $13m.
Colon and Winslow are on 1 year deals, so not under contract for next year. I'd let Winslow walk, but would try to re-up Colon on another 1-2 year vet min if he holds up for rest of season. He's meant a lot to that locker room and line. Even if he gets beat out as starter, he'd be a great backup and presence. Landry is under contract. While i do really like him, his 2014 number is 1.8 mil and could be a cut casualty as we look to upgrade FS.
The worst part of Harris contract (13mil) is over. Next year, he is only 7mil against the cap. 5mil savings if cut, but i don't think we cut him just to clear 5 mil. He's worth that.
I know... http://forums.theganggreen.com/showthread.php?t=77100 We may not get as many as discussed in that thread but we should be in good position.
I agree with some of this, but my take is a bit different. I agree about Sanchez. Nobody will want to take on his existing contract (which involves $9m in salary, $2m in a roster bonus, and $500k in a workout bonus for 2014- meaning $11.5m), because no one will be willing to just anoint him as their new starting QB. At best (for Sanchez) he can compete with a rookie for the starting spot, and get $2m - $4m. So he will end up being cut, for $9.5m in cap savings. Harris will be back because his level of play has been much better than last year's disappointing play. Cutting him would save $5m, but right now he has had a resurgence and should be an asset to the team next year. Mangold is on the decline, but he's still good and is very helpful to Geno Smith. When they were interviewing GM candidates, the people doing the interviews were: Woody Johnson, Rex Ryan, and Nick Mangold. That's how highly regarded he is in the Jets organization. No way he'll be cut, especially considering that it'd only free up $1.2m in cap space. Other o-linemen talk in amazement about how he can read defenses and lead the line, and I think the unit would suffer tremendously without him, even if he is on the decline physically. It is also important to keep him because he is helping Smith learn and develop. Ferguson would incur a $1.3m cap hit if you cut him, plus you'd need a new left tackle, which is one of the highest paying positions, and if you wind up with a bad replacement it really hurts the team. He won't be cut even though he's on the decline. I don't see a need to restructure Harris, Mangold, or Ferguson. I'm not sure if you meant ask them to take pay cuts? Restructuring is when you agree to change their contract to free up more cap space in the current year, in exchange for giving them more job security by making it less cap friendly to cut them in the next 1 - 3 years. We'll have plenty of cap space (over $40m after cuts) so freeing up a few extra million dollars for 2014 is not worth the risk. (The risk is that they decline, and you end up having to grossly over-pay them relative to their level of play, or worse, you have to keep a very highly-paid player who cannot play at an NFL level anymore.) Teams that are over the cap or right at the cap need to restructure contracts in order to field a 53 man roster, and that's a bad spot to be in. When possible, it's better to set things up so that if a player declines massively, you can move away from them at the end of the year, or at worst, the next year. All three of those players are respected leaders of the locker room, all are still solid or better (Harris is even on a major upswing), and the Jets don't "need" the cap space, so it'd be hard to ask any of them to take a pay cut even if one or two of them is moderately overpaid. I agree with you that Holmes should be cut (injury prone, diva, complains about lack of targets, and not nearly as good as he was with the Steelers.) Also saves $8.25m in cap space. No-brainer. I don't think we really want to get the "best" (and therefore most expensive) available free agent WR. Because the "best" available WR in free agency is wanted by many teams, he'll have to be given relatively generous guaranteed money and bonuses, and a large salary- and then if he declines it's like Holmes 2.0 where you're paying a ton for a guy who is not really that good. (I know we traded for Holmes, and didn't get him in free agency, but he was at the end of his contract and needed to be signed to a large contract in order to keep him. So it's pretty similar to getting a top FA WR.) The Jets have multiple positions where they need to sign quality free agents, so it doesn't make sense to me to get the "best" one- I'd rather sign two "good" WRs/TEs, and I would also not reach to take a WR or TE ahead of more promising guys at other positions. As for Cro, cutting him next year saves $9.5m, which should be done. He is not the player he was last year (and never will be), and he does not have the technical skills necessary to switch to playing safety like some corners can after they decline. Cro's thing was that even though his skills are bad, he was such an insanely athletic guy that he was still great. Now that he's declining physically, his level of play is falling off dramatically because he just lacks the skills needed to partially offset his reduced athleticism. I think it's asking too much of Millner to expect him to look like a #1 by the end of the year. That almost never happens for a rookie CBs, including Revis. What I'm looking for is improvement- breaking up more passes, maybe 1 - 3 interceptions over these last 7 games, not giving up as many easy TDs and long gains, etc. I'm just looking for him to show that he's not terrible like he was in the first half of the season. In 2014, I'm looking for him to be average to good, and by 2015 I expect him to be anywhere from good to amazing. Edit: Forgot to mention that I agree we definitely need to sign Wilkerson to a long-term deal after this season, that's the first priority. Might be able to get him for $11.5m a year or so. Totally worth it.
Holmes gone Cromartie stays Colon comes back 1 more year while Campbell develops Landry stays Rex won't start a rookie a Safety, Landry makes the calls in the secondary Winslow gone
In order to be a SB contender year after year, you need quality across the board. Otherwise, if you lose one or two key players to injury you can go from best to worst really fast. I think that's Idzik's philosophy and I think that's why he won't overpay for free agents no matter how weak the team is at any given position.
It might be good business to see if Holmes can stick around at a reasonable cost given the lack of playmakers at wideout. It might be good to keep him around at a 5-6 MIL cap hit instead of the 10.75MIL he will count for next season. He counts 2.5MIL on the cap if he's not on the roster plus his roster spot needs filled by someone. The question becomes what is he worth on the open market?? He won't get anywhere near his base salary of 8.25MIL as a free agent if he's cut. If he's worth 3MIL on the open market and he can restructure a base salary to about that level he can still contribute at a more reasonable cost. Same principles work for Sanchez but he might want to leave where he can compete to start. He counts 4.8MIL in dead cash if he's gone plus whatever his replacement would cost. He's due 11.5 MIL structured as follows: 9MIL base salary, 2MIL roster bonus, 500K workout bonus. None guaranteed. If he's cut what's his value on the open market. Will anybody want him for 3-4 MIL coming of his 2012 performance and a season lost to a throwing shoulder injury? The Jets can give him just as much money by guaranteeing his roster bonus, his workout bonus and offering him the vet minimim base salary 685K for a 6 year vet. They can still bump up his base salary another 1.2 MIL to try and keep him and they would still have him under the 4.8 MIL dead cost to have him off the roster.
Aside from Sanchez I don’t think Idzik will be in a rush to cut anyone. No need to cut Holmes, Cro or Harris unless you NEED the cap space. Cutting them to save money and not using the money elsewhere doesn’t seem productive. I think it’s more likely each is asked to restructure and then you go from there.
Idk why everyone is so quick to get Holmes off the team. Our offensive skill positions are awful and he is our best player on the outside. Should he take a paycut? Yes. But he is a very valuable piece of our offense and is a damn good receiver. If he can prove he can stay healthy there is no reason to get rid of him.
After the last couple of seasons sometimes I forget he is even on the team. Idk why everyone is so quick to save him a roster spot. He really hasn't contributed much in years. He has at least the rest of this season to prove something, anything, worthy of why the Jets should keep him around.
Aside from an 8 game stretch after Revis went down last year, Cro has been a terrible CB throughout his entire Jet tenure. Cut. Holmes is also one of the most overpaid WR's in the league, and his selfish nature in the locker room makes this an easy decision to cut(comments like "I can't throw passes to myself" directed at a rookie QB is only going to make Geno's development that much more difficult.) Cut. Harris is overpaid, but has a lot of value in veteran leadership with the Defense. Restructure contract(kinda like we did with Pace this year) --------------------------- Given Idzik's non-emotional, calculating approach, I have a feeling the above is exactly what's going to happen.
