2014 cuts

[patman]

Harris will be gone in 2014, the guy's range is decreasing every year With more and more of the offenses spreading the ball outside of the hashes (ex- the pats letting go of Welker, option plays) speed is going to become even more paramount. Davis, Ogletree, Sean Lee are going to be the prototype ILB in 3-4 defenses. A ILB thumper such as Harris/Spikes/Dansby are going to go extinct as starters.

[Untouchable]

Don't understand why everyone wants to get rid of Harris.

Did he have a down year? Sure, and look at the old slow bastards that he was surrounded by.

Next to Wilkerson, he's still our best player in the front seven.

[sec.101row23]

Don't understand why everyone wants to get rid of Harris.

Did he have a down year? Sure, and look at the old slow bastards that he was surrounded by.

Next to Wilkerson, he's still our best player in the front seven.

Plus, he actually becomes affordable next year. No sense cutting the guy now unless his performance takes another dive this year.

[Long Suffering Jets Fan]

Yeah I got that, than deduct the dead money, and add this years carryover if any.

Is that about right?

I really don't look at dead money, since even if you cut the player you don't get that money back. I look at net benefit of cutting a player which is the money that you actually can use for other players.

[Long Suffering Jets Fan]

fact is the Jets should have upwards of 40+ million in cap room in 2014 once Revis and Sanchez are off the books. Holmes is the next most likely to depart, followed by Harris if his play doesn't dramatically improve. Cromartie is safe if he has another good season.

Mangold and Ferguson are prime candidates for extensions given their high cap numbers and the low FA market we saw this offseason. They'd be extended for fair deals that will lower their cap numbers. Cromartie is also a candidate for an extension (2-3 years) if he plays at the same level. That would also free up cap space.

So while in 2014 the Jets have 40+ million in cap room, there will also only be about 30-35 players on the roster. And there's not a flashy group of free agents available next offseason.

The real benefit of next year's tremendous cap space will be our ability to front-load extensions for guys like Wilkerson and Kerley, sign maybe 1 big-name FA, and carry over cap space to 2015. We'll have a lot of space in 2014 but nowhere to spend it.

Idzik knows we have tons of cap space in 2014 and he's using that as some leverage in the Bucs trade talk. We can easily extend Revis a fair deal - one that front-loads his earnings and one that keeps us well under the cap for 4-5 years... keep in mind that, if we magically find a star QB in this draft or the next draft, they cannot sign cap-busting deals until their rookie contract is up, as per the new CBA. That gives the Jets ample cap room to keep anyone, any high priced player for the next 4-5 years.

While I'm convinced Revis is gone, it's that very fact that allows us the opportunity to keep him. Losing Revis saves money for a big QB... but we literally cannot pay big QB money until 2017. It's just not possible under the new CBA. Advantage Jets. And it ensures a roster spot for any overpriced star until that period.

At the end of the day it's pay Revis, or pay Cromartie. Both will demand significant contracts. There are a few things that need to be looked at deciding who stays and who goes. One is how much more Revis would cost than Cromartie. Also you need to look at what you can get back for the player.

It's quite conceivable that if Cromartie had close to as much value as Revis on the trade market Cro would be going and Revis staying.

Ultimately I think Revis goes, and Cromartie stays for one more year. Cromartie will be the stop gap so we can move on to some younger CBs. I expect us to draft one early this year to get us going in that direction.

In two years both Revis and Cromartie will be history.

[EM31]

What is with the obssession with getting tons of cap space? So we can overpay for Free agents from other teams? What is wrong with Cro?

We needed to get rid of the scrubs like SCott/Pace/E Smith/Thomas etc this year. And we did. We need to get rid of Holmes/Sanchez and probably ask Harris to take a paycut, but lets not get crazy and start cutting high level players for the sake having cap space.

Also we are YEARS away from having to pay to a franchise QB mega-money (we don't even have one on the roster and if we get lucky and draft one this year he would still be years away from a big deal).

Simply freeing up space is not a great goal in and of itself so I am with you there. Paying a huge salary to a bonafide superstar and difference maker is not necessarily a bad thing either but we have to be mindful that there is a cap and it is not possible to assemble a championship team of superstars this way and still be able to stay under it.

The goal should be to maximize the effective use of your cap dollars. Paying a huge salary to your QB is not necessarily a bad thing but if you are getting bottom 3 in the NFL performances out of your QB then that is effectively the same thing as carrying dead cap money on the books. Worse in fact since you are consuming a roster spot in addition to the cap dollars.

If you have too many of these kinds of contracts where the team is not seeing value on the field then it the ability of the franchise to be competitive on the field is severely impacted as a result. A bit like starting a 100m race ten yards behind everyone else.

Pretty much all of the players mentioned by the OP are dramatically underperforming their current contracts and they need to be adjusted down or adjusted out for that reason.