Aside from ownership, general manager, and coaches we had some players that were paid generously yet made a disappointing contribution on the field. While conserving our limited cap space and draft picks to fill some rather large holes is important we have the opportunity to rip the band aid off now and take the pain this year rather than throwing more money down a hole and paying these players any more money in future years. in this thread we will discuss the players in question and whether we hang on to them for now or cut them loose. All cap figures listed below are referenced from Spotrac and are only as accurate as they are. 1. Laken Tomlinson Guard (32 Years Old, 8 Years in NFL) - $18,856,464 cap hit, $10,740,000 dead cap Tomlinson is approaching the final year of a 3 Year, $40M contract. As there are bonuses and guarantees involved we save $8,116,464 by cutting him. Sometimes the best ability is availability and Tomlinson has started 114 straight games dating back to his time with the 49ers. We signed him off a 2021 pro bowl season but he was playing with a great head coach next to the best left tackle in the NFL. With the Jets he has been average at best. 2. Allen Lazard Wide Receiver (28 Years Old, 4 Years in NFL) - $12,184,000 cap hit, $18,736,000 dead cap Lazard signed a 4 year $44M contract last year. He has three year left at $10M, $11M, and $11M salaries in each year. Cutting him loose means eating guaranteed money and his signing bonus this year but frees up a lot of cap space in the next two years. We had a horrible offensive coordinator, the worst quarterback situation in the league, and injuries along the offensive line. With that said I really don't want to pay that $11M salary in either of those last two years. While cutting him loses cap space this year, pairing him with Tomlinson nets about $2M in cap space if we dump both. 3. CJ Uzaemah Tight End (31 Years Old, 8 Years in NFL) - $11,221,667 cap hit, $5,921,667 dead cap Uzameh is in the last year of a 3 year $24M deal. His contract was restructured and his salary is partially guaranteed. Conklin has been solid and we have three young players that we drafted. There is also a tight end that has been slotted for us at the tenth overall pick in some mock drafts. 4. Zach Wilson Quarterback (24 Years old, 2 Years in the NFL) - $11,184,307 cap hit, $0 dead cap The former number two pick in the draft has been disappointing and will not start for us if Aaron Rodgers is healthy. After a lot of talk from our coaches and front office Wilson was benched down the stretch his last two seasons. Despite his mobility and the big plays he has made from time to time Zach has made many poor decisions and has been outplayed by journeyman quarterbacks. With the recent waivers of Carl Lawson, Duane Brown, Jordan Whitehead, and Quinton Jefferson they are now free agents and whether or not to bring any of them back should be discussed elsewhere as they can not be called dead weight today.
I don’t think you can release Tomlinson unless we end up with a lot of cap space and are assured that we can replace him unfortunately. I think he’s trash but there’s not exactly a bustling guard/tackle market out there this offseason. Financially it doesn’t make sense to release Lazard. We’ll lose more money than makes any sense for him to be off the roster. He sucks but you can’t always cut losses and hurt your cap situation. The other two should be goners. DJ Reed should be thought about possibly being traded or release. Move MC2 outside. (We won’t ever do this but it should be entertained IMO).
It really is a matter of going all in with Rodgers this year or cutting bait now so we can make some noise in the next two years. If Douglas wants to keep his job we is likely to go all in now.
Yeah but financially it makes a lot more sense (regardless of Rodgers or all-in or any of that stuff) to cut Lazard next year. Tomlinson is also off the books after the season anyway so why bang home the big dead cap hit this year. Only thing I could think of is if they try to restructure him and push money into next year. Which unfortunately is what they’re going to do with a lot of guys including Mosley, Reed, etc.
the problem we have is the Jets are all in on this year so they aren't going to make any sensible moves to get ready for the next inevitable rebuild if its going to have any impact on this season plus the FO all know they'll be gone after this season unless the Jets have a deep playoff run so they don't care about the future.
I believe if we trade Zach we could save about 5 million. If we cut him post June 1st we could push his cap number into future years. This is why we'll trade him for peanuts if we have to.
Its looks to me like sportrac is saying he has an 11 million dead cap. He still has 5.7 million on his signing bonus for this season, which we've already paid and stretched the hit over his contract, so even if we trade him we still have to eat that.
CJ Uzoamaeh is kind of a locker room guy, you always see him in the front row of their photo ops when they do those team outings. Ouzoameah isn't terrible on the field but he's never going to earn half of that contract. But it's cool that he looks like the Feral Kid from the Road Warrior.
Let's give Ruckert more snaps to see what he can do. The cap space we save by cutting Uzomah is another plus.
It’s perfect that the Jets spent $8 million/year on a backup tightend because he’s a good guy instead of maybe finding a cool trainer or something to help that cause.
The Jets operate so poorly and ass backwards it's bizarre. I'm not sure how to take the quiet off season to this point, it's kind of nice but also kind of weird for the off season champion NYJ. We will see once free agency hits and then the draft but I've got that all too familiar sick feeling in my stomach when thinking about the moves they'll make or miss on.
Need to cut a few ppl and some need to take a pay cut. Def would be nice to trade JFM and that massive contract and get Huff back but doubt it
Releasing Tomlinson after June 1st saves around 8 mill in dead cap this year, I think you have to consider that
I for some reason thought Uzomah was hitting free agency. That's too bad, I guess another year of 50 holding calls. Getting rid of Tomlinson makes no sense. The line is already needing help, and some here want to make it worse? Ok... And getting rid of Reed..I don't even have words for that stupidity. Let's get rid of Breece, and Garrett too! Sent from my genius mind.
Any time you have truckloads of edge rushers, and then use the #15 pick in the draft to get another one so that you can keep him inactive on game day, you know your GM is lost.
