'Tis the season for number crunching.
The Jets, like many teams, have salary-cap concerns. They have roughly $6 million in cap space, which doesn't allow them to be serious players in free agency -- unless they create more room by cutting players and/or restructuring contracts.
Here's a position-by-position breakdown of the cap totals, providing insight into how the Jets have invested in recent years -- and where they need to trim some fat. (Note: Totals don't include current free agents such as
Dustin Keller,
Mike DeVito,
LaRon Landry, et al. Allow small margin of error.)
OFFENSE
Quarterback: $16.48 million. Roughly 14 percent of cap devoted to a position that needs an overhaul. Yeesh.
Running back: $1.8 million. If the QB position is Peter Luger's Steakhouse, this is Burger King.
Wide receiver: $16.86 million. Not much bang for the buck, based on 2012 performance.
Tight end: $960,000.
Konrad Reuland and
Hayden Smith are the top guys under contract. Hence, the low number. They need Keller.
Offensive line: $22.12 million. A pretty high number, considering only two starters are under contract.
Offense total: $58.22 million
DEFENSE
Defensive line: $12.5 million. One of the few areas where the talent lines up with the cost. They're trying to re-sign DeVito.
Linebacker: $20.6 million. We're counting $4.5 million in dead money from
Bart Scott,
Calvin Pace cuts.
Secondary: $26.47 million. The total will increase by $3 million if they trade
Darrelle Revis, if you can believe that. Landry will be a tough squeeze.
Defense total: $59.57 million
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