{"id":172034,"date":"2024-04-29T14:14:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T18:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=172034"},"modified":"2024-04-29T15:08:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T19:08:13","slug":"salary-cap-primer-where-the-jets-stand-after-the-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/04\/29\/salary-cap-primer-where-the-jets-stand-after-the-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Salary Cap Primer: Where the Jets Stand After the Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Jets are in a strange situation for them. They need salary cap space, and they can make it. Three prime candidates<\/a> to help them out are Quinnen Williams (restructure), Haason Reddick, and D.J. Reed (contract extensions).<\/p>\n

Let’s dive into the cap situation for the Jets.<\/p>\n

Salary Cap Primer: Where the Jets Stand After the Draft<\/h2>\n

Cap components of a contract<\/h3>\n

Let’s look at one contract:<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers<\/h4>\n

The base salary (or what he will make for playing) is $1,838,888. When he was traded to the Jets, he re-worked his deal, and that included a $35 million signing bonus. That gets prorated over the length of his contract, and as a result, $7 million will count this season. He also has a workout bonus of $50,000, bringing his total cap chargers to $8,888,888.<\/p>\n

What is the Salary Cap?<\/h3>\n

The cap is the maximum amount of money the roster can cost a team for a given season. Everyone begins at the same number, but there are things that help a team gain cap space. The initial cap for 2024 is $255.4 million.<\/p>\n

Rollover\/Adjustments<\/h3>\n

Any unused cap from the previous season can be rolled over into the next season.<\/p>\n

Incentives are broken into two categories: likely to be earned, and not likely to be earned. LTBE counts against the cap for the year in question, and NLTBE doesn’t. Unearned LTBE incentives are credited back to teams, and earned NLTBE incentives are taken away the following season.<\/p>\n

According to Over the Cap<\/a>, the Jets cap number stands at $260,174,058.<\/p>\n

Who counts against the Cap?<\/h3>\n

When the season begins, each team will have a 53-man roster. All 53 count against the cap (during the offseason, only the top 51 salaries count). The 16-man (maximum) practice squad and any player on injured reserve or PUP count as well.<\/p>\n

Practice squad weekly salaries:<\/p>\n

0-2 accrued seasons: $12,500<\/p>\n

3+ accrued seasons: $16,800 – $21,300<\/p>\n

Up to 10 players can make $12,500 per week, and up to six can make $16,800 – $21,300. Practice squad players get paid for all 18 weeks during the regular season. That means the maximum total salary at the beginning of the season is $4,550,400. If a practice squad player gets elevated, he counts against the cap for the league minimum, until he’s released.<\/p>\n

Dead cap<\/h3>\n

Since a player’s signing bonus is prorated, when that player is released (or traded) the prorated signing bonus is accelerated. That counts as “dead cap” because the player is no longer on the roster.<\/p>\n

53-man roster projection<\/h3>\n

Quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers, Tyrod Taylor, Jordan Travis
\nRunning backs: Breece Hall, Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, Israel Abaninkanda
\nWide Receivers: Garrett Wilson, Mike Williams, Malachi Corley, Allen Lazard, Xavier Gipson, Irvin Charles
\nTight Ends: Tyler Conklin, Jeremy Ruckert, Kenny Yeboah
\nOL: Tyron Smith, John Simpson, Joe Tippmann, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Morgan Moses, Olu Fashanu<\/a>, Carter Warren, Max Mitchell, Wes Schweitzer, Jake Hanson
\nDL: Haason Reddick, Quinnen Williams, Javon Kinlaw, Will McDonald IV, Michael Clemons, Solomon Thomas, Leki Fotu, Tanzel Smart, Leonard Taylor III
\nLB: C.J. Mosley, Quincy Williams, Jamien Sherwood, Chazz Surratt
\nDB: D.J. Reed, Ahmad Gardner, Michael Carter II, Isaiah Oliver, Ashtyn Davis, Chuck Clark, Brandin Echols, Tony Adams, Jarrick Bernard-Converse, Qwan’tez Stiggers
\nSpecialists: Thomas Morstead, Greg Zuerlein, Thomas Hennessy<\/span><\/p>\n

Jets’ Cap situation right now<\/h3>\n

Let’s take a look at the breakdown of the Jets’ current cap situation.<\/p>\n

Salary Cap: $260,174,058<\/span>
\nActive Roster Projection: $202,681,352
\nPractice squad max: $4,550,400
\nDead Cap: $52,050,639
\nProjected Cap Space: $891,667<\/p>\n

As you can see, the current number doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room.<\/p>\n

Quinnen Williams Restructure<\/h3>\n

The Jets could do a simple restructure of Quinnen William’s contract. This converts the base salary to a signing bonus. In doing so, the Jets would save $10.62 million in cap space.<\/p>\n

Haason Reddick Extension<\/h3>\n

One way to extend Reddick would be to offer him a new two-year deal.<\/p>\n

2024 Base salary: $1.21 million
\n2025 Base salary: $16 million ($8 million guaranteed)
\nSigning bonus: $13.04 million
\n2024 Cap hit: $4,720,000
\n2024 Cap savings: $9.78 million<\/p>\n

D.J Reed Extension<\/h3>\n

2024 Base salary: $1.125 million
\n2025 Base salary: $16 million ($6 million guaranteed)
\nSigning bonus: $9.375 million
\n2024 Cap hit: $8,604,926
\n2024 Cap savings: $7,028,250<\/p>\n

That would clear up $27,428,250, bringing the projected total to $28,319,917. That’s a more feasible number to work with for the Jets moving forward. Currently, the Jets still have some depth pieces they can sign. They also clearly need to make some contract adjustments. For now, the cap number isn’t a good one. However, Joe Douglas will make some moves before the season to make sure it’s feasible.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Jets are butting up closely to their salary cap number for 2024, and they will have to make some moves to have enough space. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2066,"featured_media":172055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,54],"tags":[7330],"class_list":["post-172034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jets","category-editorials","tag-new-york-jets-news"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2066"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}