10 ways to fix the 2013 cap issues and the Jets

[Choon328]

10 Step Process to fixing 2013 salary cap issues

Projected 2013 Cap $122,000,000

Projected NY Jets 2013 Cap Number as of now- $141,589,382

1. Cut Pace----Saves $8,560,000

2. Cut Scott---Saves $7,150,000

3. Cut E. Smith---Saves $3,000,000, or take pay cut to $1.0 million for the year. Still good depth to have but at the right price.

4. Cut J. Smith---Saves $12,000,000

5. Cut Tebow---Saves $1,531,875 but more importantly a ton of BS

6. Cut Pouha---Saves $3,833,332

7. Carry Over $5,000,000 of cap relief from the 2012 cap

8. Re-work Harris' contract---Extend Harris 1 year and turn $6 million of his 2013 base salary into a signing bonus which gets spread out over the remaining 3 years of his contract. Saves $4,000,000 in 2013.

9. Re-work Mangold' Contract---Turn his 2013 $3 million roster bonus into a signing bonus and that would spread it out over the remaining 5 years of his contract. Saves $2,400,000 in 2013.

10. Trade Cromartie---Saves $5,750,000. Possibly more depending on when his 2013 roster bonus kicks in, if it's March 1st then we save the $5.75 million if it's June 1st then the Jets would save $6.3 million. I would only suggest this b/c Cromartie' value will be real high b/c he has played like a #1 CB this year. Dolphins got a 2nd rd pick for Davis and he has never played at the level Cromartie has this season. Also Davis got traded with 2 years left on his deal just like Cromartie would so contract length wouldn't be a factor. I am assuming the Jets could get at the very least a high 3rd rd pick for him in the 2013 draft, but most likely more.

All of these moves could save the Jets $53,225,207 on next years cap and I don't think that any of them are unreasonable. Those savings would give the Jets $33,695,825 of cap room in 2013. You have to figure $6 million of that would go to signing draft picks which leaves $27,695,825 for free agents.

This would also give the Jets the flexibility to part ways with Sanchez if they so choose. It would take about an extra $4.2 million off of their cap space to
do that but it might be worth it just to move on from him depending on how the season plays out. That would still leave them with $23,695,825 of cap space. If somebody is willing to trade with the Jets for the rights to Sanchez (99.9% chance that doesn't happen but still possible) that move would save the Jets $5,550,000 on the 2013 cap. The Jets could also ask Sanchez to take a pay cut do to poor play. It's concievable that he does, Jason Smith took a $6 million pay cut in 2012 from $10 million to $4 million and received a $500,000 signing bonus saving the Rams $5.5 million this year. Regardless of the Sanchez situation the Jets would have plenty of money to "remake" their team.

*****Re-sign Revis to a long term deal. Keep it back loaded so that the cap hit in 2013 stays equal to or below the $9 million cap hit he is already scheduled to have.*****

Here are the Jets own FA's in 2013 and what I would do going forward in regards to each one:

Unrestricted Free Agents

-Y. Bell---Offer 1 year $1.5 million contract, fully guaranteed .
Cap Hit-$1.5 million

-Devito---Offer 2 year $3 million ($1.5 per year) contract $500K signing bonus.
Cap Hit-$1.75 million

-Folk---Offer 3 year $2.85 million ($950K per year) contract $240K signing bonus.
Cap Hit-$1.03 million

-Greene---Let him go to FA

-Keller---Let him go to FA

-Landry---Let him go to FA. He is most likely going to be looking for a long term deal 4-5 years possibly. With his injury history that is a huge risk, the only way I would sign him to any deal longer then 1 year is if it is structured like it is this year where he gets bonuses for games he is active in.

-B. Moore---Offer league minimum 1 year $810K. He may not accept it but if he does that will be some cheap depth.
Cap Hit-$810K

-Slauson---Offer 2 year $2.0 million ($1.0 per year), $250K Signing Bonus. The Jets made him take a pay cut this year and with his reduced playing time my guess is no team will offer him a multi-year deal and most likely won't offer him more then $1 million per.
Cap Hit-$1.125 million

-Thomas---Offer league minimum 1 year $810K. Once again it is cheap veteran depth, these are the types of players and contracts you need in order to be able to keep the cap down and still be able to fill your team with competent players.
Cap Hit-$810K

Restricted Free Agents

-Cumberland--Non Tender

-Howard---Offer 2 year $1.5 million ($750K per year), $200K Signing bonus
Cap Hit $850K

-Mauga---Non-Tender

-Purdum---3 years $1.8 million ($600K per year), nothing guaranteed
Cap Hit-$600K

This would mean the Jets would spend roughly $8.475 million on their own free agents. Which leaves them with $19,220,825 to spend on other free agents.

Where to spend that cap space and examples from the 2012 free agency period:

TE- $2-3 Million veteran FA (i.e. Kevin Boss/Jacob Tamme 3 yrs $9 million)

RT-$2-3 Million veteran FA (i.e. Jeff Backus 2 yrs $5.85 million/Anthony Collins 2 yrs $2.5 million)

OLB-$2-3 Million veteran FA (i.e. Erin Henderson 1 yr $2 million/Leroy Hill 1 yr $1.6 million/Philip Wheeler 1 yr $700K [He has 72 tackles so far this year])

HB-$3-4 million veteran FA (i.e. Peyton Hillis 1 yr $3 million/ Benjarvis Green-Ellis 3 yrs $9 million)

S-$2-3 million veteran FA (i.e. Tom Zbikowski 3 yrs $5.5 million)

My point with giving examples of guys that have signed for the type of money we could be offering is just to show that you can get quality guys at a reasonable price. It's not meant to say this is who we should sign. It's just examples.

You don't have to spend big bucks to find above average players who can be big time contributors. We don't need any more stars from the FA market, we need depth and above average starters. Hopefully we can find stars in the draft, it's cheaper that way. And hopefully we can address 4-5 areas of need in the draft (i.e. HB, OLB, QB, OL, TE, S) as well especially if we trade Cromartie for an extra 2nd or 3rd rd pick. But signing free agents at the positions above that are comparable to the examples I provided would allow us the flexibility to take the best player available during the draft.

Signing all of those FA's would cost the Jets about $13 million in cap space filling 5 areas of need leaving roughly $6 million left to play with. Obviously any deal can be structured in a way that would allow for more cap savings this year by back loading deals. It's not a bad idea because the cap is expected to jump quite a bit in 2014 do to the new tv contract beginning. You never know who is going to become available, if the right guy is there we would have the money to go and get him.

So that's my plan and what I would do if I was running the Jets. I know it's long so thank you for taking the time to read it. What does everybody think?

[Mikey Z 6]

TRADE CROMARTIE? REALLY

[Mikey Z 6]

all those OLB's you want us to sign are 4-3 OLB's i hope i dont have to explain to you what the difference is

[Mikey Z 6]

dont bring back KELLER? ohh my sanchez's favorite weapon....

[Choon328]

Originally Posted by Mikey Z 6

TRADE CROMARTIE? REALLY

Just an opinion. Makes sense financially and could help the team acquire young talent. The one thing that has been evident since Revis went down is that you don't need 2 top tier CB's, what you need is a pass rush. The secondary is the least of our issues on defense and that's with the best CB in the NFL not playing. So yeah "TRADE CROMARTIE".

[Choon328]

Originally Posted by Mikey Z 6

all those OLB's you want us to sign are 4-3 OLB's i hope i dont have to explain to you what the difference is

Ummm first thing, apparently you didn't understand what I wrote. The players I put next to each position that I believe we should look to fill with FA were EXAMPLES of contracts that some OLB got in 2012, which means LAST YEAR. Not in 2013. Whether or not they're 3-4 OLB is a moot point I was just giving examples of quality guys that can be had for a reasonable price. But here is an example anyway, Jarret Johnson 4 yrs $19 million. Happy now?

[Choon328]

Originally Posted by Mikey Z 6

dont bring back KELLER? ohh my sanchez's favorite weapon....

Keller is hugely over rated by Jets fans and people on this board. He's an average to slightly above average talent at TE. And Sanchez has a short shelf life on this team.

[Choon328]

CONTRACT YEAR - GREENE, SLAUSON, MOORE, KELLER, HOWARD (R) - POUHA, DEVITO, MAYBIN, LANDRY, Y BELL, DEVITO, MUAGA, CUMBERLAND (R)
CAP CASUALTIES - PACE, SCOTT, E SMITH, J SMITH, DUCASSEE ,
2013 CONTRACT YEAR - REVIS (OPT), MCKNIGHT, MCINTRYE, BELLORE

That's your list of who you would keep and who you would let go? Really? Ducasse a "cap casualty"? Really? He's making $839K next year and you would save less then $200K by cutting him. Why the Hell would anyone with a normal sized brain do that? Especially from all indications he's probably going to start next year.

And you would sign Greene, Keller, Maybin (He got released, way to be forward thinking on that one) and Landry. How would you pay for that and how much would you pay? Oh that's right you've done no research or don't have a clue as to how the finances work in the NFL but I'm sure you're great at being a Madden GM. At least I did research and put some time and effort into it unlike you.

[Magnus]

They need to sign a veteran QB to go along with who they draft. Keep in mind this is in a dream world where they move on from Sanchez which I think won't happen. Rex loves his Marky mark. He BELIEVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Choon328]

Originally Posted by Magnus

They need to sign a veteran QB to go along with who they draft. Keep in mind this is in a dream world where they move on from Sanchez which I think won't happen. Rex loves his Marky mark. He BELIEVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hahaha, that is true.

[Demosthenes9]

Originally Posted by Choon328

Ummm first thing, apparently you didn't understand what I wrote. The players I put next to each position that I believe we should look to fill with FA were EXAMPLES of contracts that some OLB got in 2012, which means LAST YEAR. Not in 2013. Whether or not they're 3-4 OLB is a moot point I was just giving examples of quality guys that can be had for a reasonable price. But here is an example anyway, Jarret Johnson 4 yrs $19 million. Happy now?

Umm, wouldn't a 3-4 OLB command more in the market than a 4-3 OLB, given that they are expected to be an edge rusher ?

[Demosthenes9]

Originally Posted by Choon328

Just an opinion. Makes sense financially and could help the team acquire young talent. The one thing that has been evident since Revis went down is that you don't need 2 top tier CB's, what you need is a pass rush. The secondary is the least of our issues on defense and that's with the best CB in the NFL not playing. So yeah "TRADE CROMARTIE".

Wouldn't it make more sense to keep Cro and trade Revis ?

[Baddniss]

#4...Jason Smith...are you sure about that "$12 Million" figure you posted?

seems high to me...

[Mainejet]

Originally Posted by Choon328

10 Step Process to fixing 2013 salary cap issues

Projected 2013 Cap $122,000,000

Projected NY Jets 2013 Cap Number as of now- $141,589,382

1. Cut Pace----Saves $8,560,000

2. Cut Scott---Saves $7,150,000

3. Cut E. Smith---Saves $3,000,000, or take pay cut to $1.0 million for the year. Still good depth to have but at the right price.

4. Cut J. Smith---Saves $12,000,000

5. Cut Tebow---Saves $1,531,875 but more importantly a ton of BS

6. Cut Pouha---Saves $3,833,332

7. Carry Over $5,000,000 of cap relief from the 2012 cap

8. Re-work Harris' contract---Extend Harris 1 year and turn $6 million of his 2013 base salary into a signing bonus which gets spread out over the remaining 3 years of his contract. Saves $4,000,000 in 2013.

9. Re-work Mangold' Contract---Turn his 2013 $3 million roster bonus into a signing bonus and that would spread it out over the remaining 5 years of his contract. Saves $2,400,000 in 2013.

10. Trade Cromartie---Saves $5,750,000. Possibly more depending on when his 2013 roster bonus kicks in, if it's March 1st then we save the $5.75 million if it's June 1st then the Jets would save $6.3 million. I would only suggest this b/c Cromartie' value will be real high b/c he has played like a #1 CB this year. Dolphins got a 2nd rd pick for Davis and he has never played at the level Cromartie has this season. Also Davis got traded with 2 years left on his deal just like Cromartie would so contract length wouldn't be a factor. I am assuming the Jets could get at the very least a high 3rd rd pick for him in the 2013 draft, but most likely more.

All of these moves could save the Jets $53,225,207 on next years cap and I don't think that any of them are unreasonable. Those savings would give the Jets $33,695,825 of cap room in 2013. You have to figure $6 million of that would go to signing draft picks which leaves $27,695,825 for free agents.

This would also give the Jets the flexibility to part ways with Sanchez if they so choose. It would take about an extra $4.2 million off of their cap space to
do that but it might be worth it just to move on from him depending on how the season plays out. That would still leave them with $23,695,825 of cap space. If somebody is willing to trade with the Jets for the rights to Sanchez (99.9% chance that doesn't happen but still possible) that move would save the Jets $5,550,000 on the 2013 cap. The Jets could also ask Sanchez to take a pay cut do to poor play. It's concievable that he does, Jason Smith took a $6 million pay cut in 2012 from $10 million to $4 million and received a $500,000 signing bonus saving the Rams $5.5 million this year. Regardless of the Sanchez situation the Jets would have plenty of money to "remake" their team.

*****Re-sign Revis to a long term deal. Keep it back loaded so that the cap hit in 2013 stays equal to or below the $9 million cap hit he is already scheduled to have.*****

Here are the Jets own FA's in 2013 and what I would do going forward in regards to each one:

Unrestricted Free Agents

-Y. Bell---Offer 1 year $1.5 million contract, fully guaranteed .
Cap Hit-$1.5 million

-Devito---Offer 2 year $3 million ($1.5 per year) contract $500K signing bonus.
Cap Hit-$1.75 million

-Folk---Offer 3 year $2.85 million ($950K per year) contract $240K signing bonus.
Cap Hit-$1.03 million

-Greene---Let him go to FA

-Keller---Let him go to FA

-Landry---Let him go to FA. He is most likely going to be looking for a long term deal 4-5 years possibly. With his injury history that is a huge risk, the only way I would sign him to any deal longer then 1 year is if it is structured like it is this year where he gets bonuses for games he is active in.

-B. Moore---Offer league minimum 1 year $810K. He may not accept it but if he does that will be some cheap depth.
Cap Hit-$810K

-Slauson---Offer 2 year $2.0 million ($1.0 per year), $250K Signing Bonus. The Jets made him take a pay cut this year and with his reduced playing time my guess is no team will offer him a multi-year deal and most likely won't offer him more then $1 million per.
Cap Hit-$1.125 million

-Thomas---Offer league minimum 1 year $810K. Once again it is cheap veteran depth, these are the types of players and contracts you need in order to be able to keep the cap down and still be able to fill your team with competent players.
Cap Hit-$810K

Restricted Free Agents

-Cumberland--Non Tender

-Howard---Offer 2 year $1.5 million ($750K per year), $200K Signing bonus
Cap Hit $850K

-Mauga---Non-Tender

-Purdum---3 years $1.8 million ($600K per year), nothing guaranteed
Cap Hit-$600K

This would mean the Jets would spend roughly $8.475 million on their own free agents. Which leaves them with $19,220,825 to spend on other free agents.

Where to spend that cap space and examples from the 2012 free agency period:

TE- $2-3 Million veteran FA (i.e. Kevin Boss/Jacob Tamme 3 yrs $9 million)

RT-$2-3 Million veteran FA (i.e. Jeff Backus 2 yrs $5.85 million/Anthony Collins 2 yrs $2.5 million)

OLB-$2-3 Million veteran FA (i.e. Erin Henderson 1 yr $2 million/Leroy Hill 1 yr $1.6 million/Philip Wheeler 1 yr $700K [He has 72 tackles so far this year])

HB-$3-4 million veteran FA (i.e. Peyton Hillis 1 yr $3 million/ Benjarvis Green-Ellis 3 yrs $9 million)

S-$2-3 million veteran FA (i.e. Tom Zbikowski 3 yrs $5.5 million)

My point with giving examples of guys that have signed for the type of money we could be offering is just to show that you can get quality guys at a reasonable price. It's not meant to say this is who we should sign. It's just examples.

You don't have to spend big bucks to find above average players who can be big time contributors. We don't need any more stars from the FA market, we need depth and above average starters. Hopefully we can find stars in the draft, it's cheaper that way. And hopefully we can address 4-5 areas of need in the draft (i.e. HB, OLB, QB, OL, TE, S) as well especially if we trade Cromartie for an extra 2nd or 3rd rd pick. But signing free agents at the positions above that are comparable to the examples I provided would allow us the flexibility to take the best player available during the draft.

Signing all of those FA's would cost the Jets about $13 million in cap space filling 5 areas of need leaving roughly $6 million left to play with. Obviously any deal can be structured in a way that would allow for more cap savings this year by back loading deals. It's not a bad idea because the cap is expected to jump quite a bit in 2014 do to the new tv contract beginning. You never know who is going to become available, if the right guy is there we would have the money to go and get him.

So that's my plan and what I would do if I was running the Jets. I know it's long so thank you for taking the time to read it. What does everybody think?

It's obvious you spent some time creating this plan. Very nice job. My only problem would be defensive replacements. I don't see on that list that a pass rush would be created. That's really what I'd like to see come out of this.

If the defense is still good at least we'll be bale to stay in games even in the early going.

[heymangold]

Landry has been the best safety we've had in years. He brings a swagger and physicality to the defensive backfield like we haven't had. I want him long term. Knock on wood he has been healthy all season!

[IndianaJet]

I'd get rid of everyone you say to get rid of except Cromartie. We have one singular strength on this team and its Revis & Cro.

Assuming (and that's a big if) we can work out a reasonable deal with Revis, their value on the field vs the cap savings we would experience with a lesser CB duo, IMO, is not worth it.

Just as though its a passing league and we'll never get anywhere until we find a real top 10 QB...we should keep our one strength on defense against the pass.

Now if you told me we could replace Cro with a true all pro level pass rusher or a top 10 QB then I'd be in favor of using the Cro/Revis money elsewhere. But where is the this fictional DE or QB that some other team is just gonna let walk?

[Batmans A Scientist]

Originally Posted by Baddniss

#4...Jason Smith...are you sure about that "$12 Million" figure you posted?

seems high to me...

Nope, that's actually right. Though I believe the $12M doesn't even kick in unless he gets another of snaps.

Either way, if the Jets cut him (or rework his contract) before 3/15, they don't any money. In other words, the Jets never planned on him being here more than 1 year.

[patman]

The RFA tender is now 1.2 mil, 1.8 mill if you want compensation.

You are very low on Slausen, the guy is a starter, not Faneca by any means but to think he is going to sign for less than what back ups make. It is one thing for a team in mid-august to cut a players salary, when rosters are set around the league. Slausen IMO will get a 3 year deal at 2 mill easily.

Like wise Devito will get 2X what you budget. DeVtio is a 30 snap a game guy
as a run stuffer in both a 3-4 and 4-3. That is value.

Folk is having a great year, you think he is going to sign long term for 1/3rd of what Goskowski makes? to me 3 years and 5 mill is what is is going to take. The dolphins kicker is at 75% and his longest is 46 yards, kicking in ideal conditions.
the packers kicker is at 67%

Trading Cro to save 5 mill? I dont get it.

Extending Harris now has the makings of what Scott/Pace are now. Overpaid

Starting RT is very light$$$. Backus was home town all the way. And Anthony Collins got that to be a back up.

Very well thought out post.

[Choon328]

Originally Posted by Demosthenes9

Wouldn't it make more sense to keep Cro and trade Revis ?

You would be selling high on Cromartie instead of low on Revis b/c of the injury. And lets be honest, Revis is a much better CB then Cromartie.

[Choon328]

I will cut you some slack since you're a Pats troll and not a Jets fan. So you really don't know much about the Jets just like I wouldn't pretend to know much about the Pats.

You are very low on Slausen, the guy is a starter, not Faneca by any means but to think he is going to sign for less than what back ups make. It is one thing for a team in mid-august to cut a players salary, when rosters are set around the league. Slausen IMO will get a 3 year deal at 2 mill easily.

Slauson plays about 70% of the snaps, Ducasse plays the other 30%. Slauson is not the entrenched no doubt about it starter, that hurts his value a lot.

Like wise Devito will get 2X what you budget. DeVtio is a 30 snap a game guy
as a run stuffer in both a 3-4 and 4-3. That is value.

You may be right, but I never said that he would sign for as much as I suggested. What I said is that is how much money I would offer. Devito won't be a starter here so he shouldn't get paid like one.

Folk is having a great year, you think he is going to sign long term for 1/3rd of what Goskowski makes? to me 3 years and 5 mill is what is is going to take. The dolphins kicker is at 75% and his longest is 46 yards, kicking in ideal conditions.
the packers kicker is at 67%

Folk is 12/13 this year so far and probably will end up 20/23 or somewhere around there unless he collapses. He may command more money, I don't really know. I just put an estimate down. And just b/c the Patriots paid a ton of money to a kicker who comes up small in big spots doesn't mean the Jets will do the same thing.

Trading Cro to save 5 mill? I dont get it.

Not only will you save $5 million but they would most likely get a 2nd rd pick for him as well. With Revis out it's been plain to see that you can still have a very good secondary with only 1 stud CB, there really is not a need for 2. What the Jets need is a better pass rush and the cap savings and/or the extra pick could address that weakness. Revis is better then Cromartie but his value is down b/c of the injury so Cromartie would get you a better return b/c at this point he's playing like a top 5 CB. Sell high.

Extending Harris now has the makings of what Scott/Pace are now. Overpaid

Extending Harris 1 year like I suggested would only cost the Jets $2 million guaranteed in 2015 (very cuttable) and he would only be 31, hardly the same situation that Pace and Scott are in.

Starting RT is very light$$$. Backus was home town all the way. And Anthony Collins got that to be a back up.

Very well thought out post.[/QUOTE]

At this point you're not looking for a top caliber RT b/c the Jets don't have the money for that b/c they have a lot of other needs. You're looking for a competent stop gap, they don't command big money.