Only in Rex-land. If he was getting production out of the defense like he did in 2009 then I think you maybe give him that latitude.
The good thing is that Cromartie has a tradeable contract and has been playing very well. I'm guessing he'll be a part of the 2013 purge, and hopefully brings us a desperately needed draft pick in the process.
In a division where the best passing offense is TE-based & in a league where almost nobody can put out 2 game breaking WR. Stupid move but I think that's where we are going if Rex/Tanny aren't replaced.
And the linebackers got old on him. If Rex wants to survive at this point he's got about an 18 month process in front of him that involves getting a lot smarter about being a head coach. With Tanny/Bradway behind the scenes it won't matter though. He needs them replaced ASAP if he is going to get through this.
Here is how Jets can get to work next year. Jets are currently at $141 Mil for 2013 as it stands. The changes above will put them at $92 mil with Santonio, or $81 Mil if Santonio is traded. Jets are only moving $14.4 mil to future years via restructures (not just 2014, but some are moved until 2017), so its not a huge burden. Cutting those players 5 players and trading Santonio will have Jets roster at 32 under contract. There will be a huge turnover next season. Jets will have about $45 mil in cap space (5 mil carried over from 2012 to 2013). However, here's the list of starters we will need. RB, TE, RG, LG, RT, ROLB, LOLB, ILB, SS, FS and K. Thats a total of 11 starting spots. Folk and Bell can be had for about 2 Mil. ILB can be overtaken by D. Davis. Landry can be back for maybe around $3-4 mil again. Slauson will probably get resigned for 1.5 mil. Thats $7 mil gone on K, FS, SS, ILB, and LG. With another $38 mil, Jets will need to find Starters at RB, TE, RG, RT, ROLB and LOLB. With these 6 starters, Jets roster will come to 43. I think Jets will resign Keller for around $4 mil a season. I also think Shonn Greene will come back for maybe another $3mil. That leaves Jets with $31 mil to get RG, RT, ROLB, and LOLB. We can then pick up two players from FA for maybe within $12 mil. That will put the Jets at about $19 mil in space. with 41 on the roster. $6 Mil for 7 draft picks leaves the Jets at 48 roster size with still $13 mil in space. The remaining two starting positions should be filled via immediately producing rookies. The remaining three roster spots should take just over a mil and Jets would still have $12 mil in cap space. Even if Jets don't trade Santonio, they will still have a few mils in cap space left over and plenty of ammo to fire. EDIT: Holmes cap saving if traded will be $11mil (his entire base salary for 2013), not $7.75 mil (that was his base salary for 2012).
They can't trade up, they can't sign anyone to big money, meaning they might have to step out of the Keller signing if someone overpays, and the last one is most important, they can't miss on their 1st rounder. Their 1st rounder needs to be able to start day 1. Not play great, or even decent, but isn't a project.
Jets can (and most likely will) sign ANY guy with that cap space. Suppose they wanna sign an OLB that will command $10mil a yr money. Jets can sign him to 4 years $40 mil contract. Offer $12 mil signing bonus with base salaries of $1m in 2013 n $9m each the next 3 years. Cap charges: 2013: $4mil 2014: $12M 2015: $12M 2016: $12M They only have to assign money to future years, when Sanchez, Holmes, and Revis's massive cap charges wouldn't be an issue
Isn't that what caused this mess in the first place? Pushing away cap charges and then on the tail end of the contract when the player is older and struggles we owe them big time money? There are too many holes I think to overpay one of them.
Trading Holmes if gonna be tough, unless you're willing to dump him cheap. I think they're better off keeping him next year, especially considering that state of their WRs. I also think you're asking for trouble if you're gonna rely on a second year D Davis to be a three-down LB. I'm not saying they should go out and pay someone starter money, but it would be a good idea to at least sign a vet who can be a part time player. Finally, you have to change the way you're thinking about how much free agents cost. The average per year amount is pretty much meaningless, given the non-guaranteed nature of NFL contracts. If you want to have a serious discussion about free agents, you have to talk about guaranteed money and how the contract is structured. As it pertains to Folk, Bell, Slauson, and Greene, I doubt there is gonna be a lot of interest around the league for these guys. I think the numbers you threw out for these guys are pretty accurate (Greene's might be a little high) because they aren't gonna command contracts that give them any security beyond 2013. However, Keller and Landry will almost certainly command more interest, and be able to use that as leverage to get more guaranteed money and a contract with more long term security. So the question is, how much money should the Jets pay these guys in 2013 (bonus + salary) and how much "likely to be earned" money should they commit to them after that? The free market is tough to predict, but I'll be very interested to see what these guys get.
remember when people used to think that guys would come to the jets and accept less than market value because they wanted to play for rex...
And in a different poll one of the coaches they would most like to play for! Doesn't mean much, they follow the money wherever it leads
