The timing is a little bit off, but moving on from fan favorites David Harris and Eric Decker is the right move for the future of the New York Jets. Fans may be irritated by these recent moves, but it’s important to understand that if the team is truly rebuilding, the moves are necessary.
Many sources have shown the Jets want to build through the draft, including Ethan Greenberg of newyorkjets.com. According to him, Jets owner Woody Johnson was fairly forthright about these intentions.
“We’ll use the draft primarily and we’ll use free agency judiciously, trading and the rest of it,” Johnson said. “But mostly through the draft.”
Moving on From Eric Decker, David Harris is Right for the New York Jets
2018 Cap Space
Johnson and general manager Mike Maccagnan know that you can’t build only through the draft. You do have to add key free agents too, and that’s why you need cap space.
As a part of the collective bargaining agreement reached in 2011, teams are allowed to rollover unused cap from the previous season. They must send in a letter telling the NFL how much they want to roll over by 14 days before the start of the league year.
Cutting Decker and Harris will bring the Jets cap space to around $11.9 million prior to roster cut downs after camp. Right now, their cap space for 2018 sits at $56.7 million. With the additional funds, it would bring it to $68.7 million.
The Nature of the Beast
As far as Harris is concerned, his agents are mad at the timing.
“Very disappointing in the timing of this event and the decision,” they reiterated according to Tony Williams of Metro NY. The Jets could have done this prior to free agency instead of waiting three months, especially for a player who has exhibited nothing but loyalty and class for ten years.”
In the same article Williams emphasized that the team tried to have Harris take a pay cut with none of the money being guaranteed.
The NFL is a cruel business, and Harris learned that. By the end of the week, Decker will too. NFL stands for Not For Long.
Bad Timing?
It’s bad timing on the Jets’ part, though. If they thought they couldn’t strike a deal with Harris, they should’ve cut him before the free agency period. With Decker, they had to make sure he was healthy before they could even consider trading or cutting him.
The Jets were actually stuck in between a rock and a hard place with these two. First, they needed to make sure Decker is healthy before they offer a trade or cut him, and Harris’s agents apparently wouldn’t cave on a pay cut. There really was no other way for the Jets to handle this.
It’s the unfortunate world we live in in the National Football League. There’s a hard salary cap the teams must adhere to. If you can save money and help the future while doing it, it ends up hurting the good guys, and sometimes rewarding the bad guys. In the end, it’s not an indictment of the Jets or Harris or Decker. It is what it is.
