In yesterdays article I gave you 3 Jets players that should without a doubt in my mind be cut. Henry Anderson, Alex Lewis, and Ryan Griffin. I would retain Greg Van Roten as depth, and cutting Jamison Crowder and George Fant shouldn’t even be considered. With a new interior to our offensive line, you need some consistency. Factor in Fant’s unbelievable athleticism for an offensive lineman, it was his first year as a full time starter, and the fact that the rest of the line unanimously appointed Fant as their captain, he should be retained. He wasn’t that good last season, but he wasn’t bad or a liability either. If he plays the same or worse in 2021 with an improved offensive line, he can be cut next offseason.
Now with these 3 players being cut, I showed the Jets 2021 cap room increases to $83.43M. Using spotrac.com I have gotten estimates of the contracts all the top free agents Jets fans and myself want, and I have some great news! We should be able to sign them all!
The estimated contracts from spotrac:
Joe Thuney- 5 years, $70M, $14M per season
Brandon Scherff- 5 years, $55M, $11M per season
Allen Robinson- 4 years, $80M, $20M per season
Trey Hendrickson- 3 years, $30M, $10M per season
Richard Sherman- 1 year, $7M
Cameron Sutton- 3 years, $21M, $7M per season
Jonnu Smith- 5 years, $40M, $8M per season
Deshaun Watson trade- with what Texans are eating, about $11M in 2021, then $40M in 2022
Now in my opinion, the top targets should be Allen Robinson, Joe Thuney, Trey Hendrickson, and Deshaun Watson in a trade. The 4 of them together will, according to spotrac, cost about $55M in 2021. That still leaves almost $30M leftover. Yes that is a lot of money, but all of them are worth it! We would have gotten one of the best WRs in the NFL, one of the best QBs who is just starting his career, the top edge rusher from last season who fits beautifully into a 4-3 DE front, and one of the best guards in the NFL, also with plenty of years left in his career. If Thuney doesn’t hit free agency and we sign Brandon Scherff instead, he’s even less expensive, so more cap room.
Now let’s say we want to sure up the cornerback position as well, which we really need to. Richard Sherman has been one of our biggest supporters since hiring Robert Saleh, and he isn’t even a Jet. Yet. Cameron Sutton is a great CB2. If we sign both of them, that’s another $14M next season. Still have around $16M left.
Technically, we could sign everybody above (only 1 of the guards not both) and swing it. We wouldn’t have much cap room left, if any, but who cares! Our team is STACKED now! There is no trophy or reward for remaining cap room, and if you make the playoffs or win the Super Bowl, no one says “well they were great but they don’t have a lot of money left over.”
What about Watson’s contract in 2022 though? Well by then we will have more cap room, as well there are many more players that can be cut or not resigned. Let’s worry about 2021, be a dominant force in the NFL, then worry about 2022.
Now Joe Douglas is not a spending maniac like Mike Maccagnan was. If he gives big money to anyone, you can guarantee it will be to players 100% deserving of that money. All the players above are deserving of those contracts. Lot of different combinations you can do with the above players, but one thing is for sure: We can trade for Deshaun Watson, and put top caliber players around him in free agency. Then Joe Douglas will draft well again like he did his first draft, with the options changing based on what we do in free agency.
If we trade for Deshaun Watson, then sign Allen Robinson, Joe Thuney or Brandon Scherff, Trey Hendrickson, and a few others guys like either Cameron Sutton, Richard Sherman, or Jonnu Smith, the Jets are instantly a top team in the league, and the rest of the league will be put on notice.
Our time has come