well after yet another disappointing season we are 1 game away from the off season for us. Figured I'd take a look at the current situation. We aren't as bad of as it would seem Coaching Staff We'll start with the coaching staff. This is going to be blown up. Gase will be gone in less then a week and this hire is probably the most important thing to the success of the jets over the next 5 years we can do this offseason. I'm a firm believer in the chain of hiring. I think the GM should hire his head coach and the head coach hires the OC and DC and the OC and DC choose the rest of their staff. Here are possible candidates Joe Brady (panthers OC) - he's young and doens't have a huge resume but what he's done in carolina is impressive. ex jets teddy b is performing like his old pre injury self and robby anderson is top 10 in the NFL and had his first 1k yard season. their top RB went out who is tops in the NFL and their back-up mike davis hasn't missed a beat. he's worked wonders with no name players in that offense Eric Bieneimy (cheifs OC) - he's one of the hottest names but not a guy I want personally. the rumor is he'll go wherever dorsey is hired as a GM (possibly det, jax, or hou) andy ried really runs the offense and they are loaded with talent including the top QB in the NFL currently. he hasn't had to do anything with subpar talent Arthur Smith (titans OC) - after tannehill was considered washed up with gase as a coach he went to tenn and smith turned him into a pro bowl QB. could he do that with darnold or develop a rookie for us? Matt Campbell (iowa state HC) - he turned down the jets 2 years ago leading us to hire gase sadly. he's a respected coach who turned their program around and is linked to every team with a HC need in the NFL. personally i'm weary on college coaches and he's turned us down once already but doens't mean he cna't be a good coach Lincoln Riley (oklahoma HC) - he made baker mayfield and kyler murray college stars and hiesman winners. he's considered an offensive guru in the college ranks. but he turned down the cowboys last year and doesn't look like he wants to leave college Brian Daboll (bills OC) - he turned josh allen from raw talent to a pro bowl QB in a few years. he also has a long resume as an OC with the browns, chiefs, and fins as well. he knows the division and was a jets QB coach in 2007-2008 Out of those choices I like daboll but wouldn't complain about any of them really. Bieneimy is probably my least favorite Lets go over the roster position by position QBs Sam Darnold James Morgan Flacco is a FA and likely not resigned. this is the big question of the offseason. with the jets picking 2 do they take a QB? trade sam? Currently (which could change leading up to the draft) I think we keep sam and don't take a QB. we trade down. build a team. if sam doesn't shine under a new HC and with a better team around him we can get a QB next year who will already be in a good position. We could sign a vet back-up to push and mentor sam like fitzpatrick. We also don't know what we have in morgan. Since we cna't get lawerence I think keeping sam is best for now and loading up on picks in the draft. RBs Lamichel perine Ty Johnson Gore will retire, adams isn't under contract. we could look to add depth here via a late round pick or a mid tier FA or bring back adams. It's a position we will need to upgrade but not this year. I really like the RB class of 2022. I think we stick with the JAGs we have and give them a shot. ty has looked good. i'm not a big perine fan. WRs Crowder Mims Doctson Berrios Crowder and mims are locked in for sure. Doctson I don't see making the team after opting out in 2020 and being a scrub since being drafted. Berrios can hang on as a depth guy. clearly we need an overhaul here. With our cap room we should look to land a big name WR like galladay, robinson or juju to be the WR1 with mims as 2 and crowder in the slot. We should also draft a WR with one of our top 5 picks. that would give us a starting 3 of mims, crowder, and FA with the rookie and berrios as the 4/5 guys. we can round out the rest with a T2 FA WR or a later draft pick and UDFA O-line Leo Koalamatangi Greg Van Roten Chuma Edoga George Fant Mekhi Becton Alex Lewis Cameron Clark Connor Mcgovern The O-line has gelled recently and playing well. Becton is a stud and locked in at LT for the next 4 years (hopefully longer) Fant has proven solid at RT and Edoga has shown to be a good back-up. I'd love to add a guy like walker little in the 3rd or late 2nd if he falls to be our RT of the future. Mcgovern has been a top 10 center the 2nd half of the year for us. he's locked in for a while. The main issue for us is the guards. Alex lewis has been up and down and has some sort of mental issue. we got elfien off waivers and could resign him. he's been solid. GVR has been bad but we drafted clark who can hopefully start contributing soon. I'd look to also add another late round OG resign elfein for a year and release GVR. let elfein and lewis start at OG with clark backing them up. Leo will likely be released if we bring in 2 rookies to the o-line TEs Ryan Griffin Chris Herndon Trevon Wesco TE seemed like it would be a strength heading into this season. it was not. Herndon looked amazing as a rookie, then missed 2019 with an injury and has been awful this year. He did finally have a good game last week so maybe there is hope for a rebound 2021 season for him. Griffin started for the jets in 2019 after the herndon injury and was great and got an extension. then he got hurt at the end of the year and has looked bad this season. we could save 2 mil by cutting him but I think he stays for another year. Wesco has barely seen the field in 2 years as a 4th round draft pick. IDK why he isn't getting time over griffin. If we trade back I'd like to grab Pitts in the 1st. he has the makings of the next travis kelce/kittle type of TE. a game changer. pair him with herndon in 2 TE sets. If we don't trade back and get pitts this will likely be the group and depends on if herndon can rebound but potential is there for him D-line Foley Anderson Q Shepard JFM Phillips Probably the strength of our team as a unit. Q is playing like the best DT not named aaron donald this season. Foley has been great at NT replacing mclendon who was traded away. JFM impresses every chance he gets. Shepard and phillips have proven to be solid depth/rotational guys. We likely cut anderson to save 8 mil and can bring in another body for depth via a late draft pick or UDFA or a cheaper option. Starting D-line should be foley, JFM, and Q for 2021 which is pretty dam strong ILBs CJ Mosley Blake Cashman This has surprisingly been a strength for us this season. The issue is all the players we have are free agents. only 2 left on the roster for 2021 is mosely who has only played about 3 quarters of football in 2 years for us after landing a huge contract (injury in 2019, opt out in 2020) but he is a former all pro ILB and won't be expensive for 2021 and hopefully returns to form. cashman has potential but always hurt. we should lok to bring back hewitt. he was a stud for us all year and start him with mosely. a resonable 3 year contract. We signed Onwuasor who never played a down for us. we could look to add him back at depth on a cheap 1 year deal. OLBs Huff Zuniga This is pretty bare with all of our OLBs being on 1 year deals. Jordan jenkins, Basham, Luvu, and Langi are all impending free agents leaving us with rookie UDFA huff and rookie 3rd rounder Zuniga. Zuniga has hardly played but huff has looked good. Still don't feel great going into 2021 with just them. I think we'll resign 1 or (likely langi and basham they have looked the best) might grab one in the draft as well. If we slide back we could get rousseau in the 1st instead of pitts. this is an area JD will need to address somehow though. There is a list of free agent edge rushers and could be options to sign. Bud dupree, matt judon, melvin ingram, shaquill barrett, clowney, houston, ngakoue, and vernon are all options. I think we add an edge guy in FA CBs Bless Hall balentine CB is an iffy group for us as well. Bless has looked good for us and should be a starter in 2021. We could draft a CB with our 2nd 1st rounder or 2nd rounder as well. there is good talent at CB in that area of the draft. Poole got hurt we shouldn't resign him. guidry has played well and should get resigned. lamaar jackson as well for depth. I think we bring those 2 back and keep the 3 we have and draft one and that shuld round out the CB group FS/SS Davis Rookie 3rd rounder davis is the only safety on the roster for 2021. obviously we need some more. maye is a baller and we should resign him to start with davis. then we need some depth. I wouldn't bring back mcdougled personally. he wasn't good for us. I wouldn't invest a lot in this position either. just sing some T2 FAs or draft them late or UDFA. back-up safety isn't the most of our worries. Just bring back maye and don't worry too much about the rest Players under contract 35 (34 if we cut anderson and I assume we do) Estimated cap space 89.6 mil (after cutting anderson) Draft picks (9) 1 (2nd) 1 (late 1st) 2 (33rd) 3 (65th) 3 (late 3rd) 4 5 5 7
Well done! I think you need to add Wink Martindale in the mix. He has a connection to JD and gets the most out of his players. Ravens D has been top 5 every year he has taken over. Also unless you have a stout D without a FQB we can’t beat KC. Pederson is obviously the wild card as well but I think he will end up staying with Hurts emerging. This off-season is so important for this franchise that the coach needs to go hand in hand with the team. We need someone to fire this franchise up! Also the decision should be his to make at the QB position. Whether he want to keep Sam, trade Sam, draft a QB or trade for a QB this should be a collective decision between JD and the new coach. Man, looking at that roster we have a lot of holes... it’s going to take an excellent coach to get these kids ready to roll.
He's an option for sure. probably could list like 5 more but I really want to go with an offensive coach personally, especially one with a track record of developing QBs
Great write up. One thing that is incorrect. After his guaranteed money Mosley will count 19.85 million against the 2021 cap. He would be cheap to another team in a trade because we have to pay the 12 million guaranteed money even if we trade him. So trading him would save 7.5 million against our current cap and save the team getting him 12 million. But if we keep him he is expensive at the entire 19.8 million. The 4th highest paid LB in the league.
I think without Lawrence that option is not as important. Without a star QB we need more balance from the other positions.
Good post and I would add that we need to build the team up. AS Rock said, there are a lot of holes to fill.
No it doesn't worth like that. he's only counting 7.5 mil against the cap in 2021. The original guaranteed money was everything in 2019 and 2020 plus 8 mil of his 2021 salary (which was slated at 16 mil) His only guarantee that would kick in now is that an additional 8 mil of his salary for 2021 becomes guaranteed on 03-22-20. he was slated to have a 16 mil salary at that point which means his 2021 salary is fully guaranteed. with the opt out though his salary for 2021 is only 5.85 mil which is fully guaranteed. him opting out doesn't add salary. since his salary dropped you can't guarantee more then you are paying him. Not sure where you are getting your numbers from but they are way off. he only counts 7.5 mil against the cap in 2021
Even if we don't take a QB now and you feel sam doesn't need to be developed. If we replace sam in 2022 with a rookie he will need to be developed. you need to think years ahead. any coach we hire will be here for at least 2 or 3 years if they are awful. at least 5 if they are mediocre
I stand corrected. I didn't acount for the opt out. So if we traded him he would only cost the team getting him 6 million and save our cap 1.5 million. But that is 2021. In 2022 he will balloon up to 17.5 million and even if traded cost us 6 million in 2022. I think thats correct.
It kills me that we still have over $15mm tied up in dead cap space next year for Tru Johnson, Lev Bell, and Q. Enunwa. Man, Mike McCagnan was awful. Love the youth on the DL. Q is a stud. Fatukasi, Franklin-Myers, and Sheperd all with reasonable deals and terrific against the run but we need a dominant edge rusher that gets after the QB. Preferably at OLB but could be on the line as well. It's been ages since we had anyone put fear in a QB's eyes. Henry Anderson is as good as gone. No way he's coming back at that number. As for Mosley, according to sportrac (I'm new so can't include the link), he will only count $7.5mm against next year's cap due to opting out this year. Cap hit balloons to $17.5mm in the years to come. Either way, I don't think he's going anywhere and may be the most important player on the defense for 2021. The guy hasn't played in two years! But he was an All-Pro the last time he stepped on the field. He's the one calling the defensive plays and making the adjustments. He's the expected QB of the defense and could make everyone around him better. How he comes back from this layoff will be a huge story line for the 2021 Jets. I realize we have a ton of question marks on offense but if we can re-sign Maye and Hewitt, spend some $ on an edge rusher (preferably at OLB), and draft a CB in the late 1st/early 2nd our defense could be top 10 in the league and can keep us in a lot of games next year.
Definitely release Henry Anderson-- I thought his contract was too rich, especially considering the depth we have there. I think after cutting him and perhaps a few other minor maneuvering, we will have the most cap space entering next year. Even with the question marks, IMO we are the second best destination behind Jacks. The other openings are extremely strapped for cash right now...besides LA Chargers which only have 30 mil to play with and have less draft capital to boot. Houston is overrated as a destination--they have negative cap space and no higher picks....yes you have DW, but what good is that if you don't have ammo to build rest of the team.
in 2021 he costs 7.5 mil against the cap. If we trade or release him he counts 19.85 million. we would lost 12 mil in cap space by getting rid of him plus the cost of his replacement. in other words makes no sense to move on from him in 2022 he counts 17.5 mil against the cap releasing him would save 5 mil but again need to pay a replacement. realistically we shouldn't move on from him until 2023 when we can save 15.5 mil by cutting him instead of paying him 18.5 mil. the dead cap will only be 3 mil. Mosley will be here for the next 2 seasons then be cut. he'll have made 51 million by then from us he's already made 29 million for playing 3 quarters in the past 2 years
I said at the time to extend robby and not enunwa. that was a huge mistake by mac. you can't blame him for the injury but robby was clearly a better WR. mac and JD both underestimated him. The good news is we have plenty of money so ti's a good year to have dead cap for us. Our d-line is young and talented. Hope we keep them all around for a while. I understand the anderson signing. when we traded for him we didn't have Q. leo was meh and we didn't have foley, JFM, and shepard emerging. we just found so many late round and UDFA and waiver studs on the d-line anderson is no longer needed. I think we should sign an edge rusher for sure and a WR. bring back maye and hewitt and one of either basham or langi and one ILb probably onuwasor. draft a CB with our 2nd or 3 pick and the D could look pretty good. we actually have a lot of young talent. we just need better coaching and a few key players and sam to step up.
This is basically what I said (in the wrong order) in my original post. Trading becomes an option of do we want to save more money against 2021s cap or 2022s cap? I'd rather save it in 2022. The question is do we have to trade Mosley? IMO we do for two reasons. 1. We are rebuilding. This is the time to take our expensive assets and exchange them for young talent. Mosley with his contract structure has considerable trade value because of his talent and the cheap price in 2021. We'd basically be paying much of his contract. Its a great deal for a team. We'd potentially get a first and second rounder for him, with a minimum of another first. 2. Where does he fit in the locker room now? Lets put it this way. Football is like a battlefield and a season is like a war. When a member of your squad opts out of a war they no longer have a place in your squad. Especially in a tough year like this one was. This is just the way it is. Regardless of what CNN says or the "COVID was a valid reason" folks say. The team knows he didn't show up when they did. He is no longer capable of being a leader in the Jets locker room and even worse he may cause simmering resentment. He would be fine on another team but he is probably ruined as a Jet. I'm sure trading CJ Mosley, even at eating the cost of his dead cap, is on JDs mind. What we should focus on is the value we can get for him to offset that cost and properly rebuild with young talent.
it's a whole new team. most of the players staying are under 25 on defense. new coaching staff too. we keep mosley for 2 years. makes the most sense
Why are we playing for the SB next season? We wont get anything for him after next season. I'd rather take the #1 and actually rebuild properly.
and you do that by developing talent and having veteran leaders on defense. guys like mosley will make guys like Q, JFM, zuniga, hall etc better players. and we won't get a 1st form him. would you rather a bunch of dead cap and a 5th round pick or a pro bowl veteran leader for 2 years
You think he can still be a leader in the Jets locker room. I wouldn't count on that. And I guess your in the CJ Mosley is worth a bag of Funoins in a trade camp. He has made the pro bowl every year of his career except the hamstring year with us. He is healthy and cheaper then most rookies towards the 2021 cap for the team we trade him to. Probably the best bargain in football. I think you mean we'd get a 5th for him in 2022.
what? no he isn't. if we trade him whatever team gets him has to pay him 5.85 mil for 2021. last year the 1st Lb taken simmons (8th overall) counts 3.7 mil against the 2020 cap. and he's obviously the highest paid Lber in the draft and a top 10 pick. mosley will cost more. they will also be on the hook for his salaries of 16 mil + for the next 3 years after that or cut him. nobody is trading a high pick for a 1 year rental player at 6 mil. we can at best get a 4th or 5th for him. he also hasn't played football in 2 years.
So you focus on being a little more expensive then a rookie makes him not an amazing bargain in 2021? It is true that if a team wanted to keep him beyond 2021 they would have to pay his salary. But if he is a game changing pro bowler, like he has been, they wont mind. That is the only real gamble. Would he be more then a cheap one year rental? Given his history many teams would line up to take that chance.
