OK, I stand corrected on Holmes and Cromartie being RFA's. So neither player will be RFA's cap or no cap.
Only thing in your post I disagree on...I think he's a little more than a JAG. I'm willing to bet he takes the most snaps at safety this year for the Jets short of little Jimmy. With our CB coverage being some of the tightest in the league (projectedly), I think an S/OOLB like Smith will play a big role as run-stuffing will be our weakness, especially if we do nothing to shore up the D-line. Regardless, "win-now" articles in May are like assholes...ya know the rest.
Cimini didn't count this one (since he doesn't have the brain to) but your list missed one player; pass rushing OLB that might come in as a free agent or drafted. If drafted, the salary should be in range of 2~5M/yr, but if traded (or picked up from FA) it could be over 8~10M/yr range. This year Jets are basically freeloading with Jason Taylor at 2.5M (that could go 3.5 if he meets all of the incentives, which I think is impossible.)
He actually wrote a pretty good analysis of where the Jets are, although I think he doesn't realize how much of the Super Bowl window really depends on just one player: Mark Sanchez. The Jets could lose 8 of the 11 players in contract years and still be headed back to the Super Bowl in 2012, after a minor restocking in 2011, if Sanchez works out. They won't make the Super Bowl at all if he doesn't. That makes the "win-it-now-or-never" angle much less likely to actually be the reality. I think if the Jets win a Super Bowl next season Tannenbaum will probably let 3 or 4 players at least from the 11 walk and everybody will say it's doomsday, when in fact the Jets might even have a real shot in 2011 despite that. If the Jets don't make the Super Bowl next season, possibly because Sanchez is not ready yet, then losing a few key players the following season will have much less of an impact on their chances than Sanchez getting to where he needs to be for the run.
yup. The defense will be what it is, and it will keep the Jets in those close game where sanchez is going to have to win it in the end. That's the nature of the NFL. Its beyond rare to have a 2000 Ravens or 2002 Buccaneers scenario. Its going to be on the kids shoulders. Considering how good he looked in January, and where that projects him. The Jets are in good shape.
So maybe we lose a receiver and Jason Taylor. I think Nick and Brick will stick (lame, I know). We'll be fine. The shittiest thing about salary caps is that you can bring in a player and develop him into a prob bowler and then after a few years you have to make a decision about whether or not to keep the guys....it sucks....but better than having no cap, I guess..... I'd like to see a rule that states that a player who signs a contract with a team in the first 3 yrs of his career can remain on that team when his contract expires even if it means that the team goes over the cap. They could qualify it by saying that teams over the cap cannot sign any free agents or something....and you have to resign the player to a contract of at least 3 yrs....that way you wouldn't have rental players.
Rex said in his live chat something like, "There's a few guys we will never let leave the Jets, and one of those guys is Mangold"
i don't know the specifics but i think you basically just described the bird rule in the NBA. i like it.
