{"id":172629,"date":"2024-05-05T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=172629"},"modified":"2024-05-05T12:06:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T16:06:33","slug":"freeing-up-cap-space-wont-hurt-extending-young-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/05\/05\/freeing-up-cap-space-wont-hurt-extending-young-jets\/","title":{"rendered":"Freeing Up Cap Space Won’t Hurt Extending Young Jets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Salary cap space<\/a> is something of a conundrum when fans look at it. Many fans hear what the media has to say and assume it’s correct. However, the media often exaggerates things when it comes to the cap. This, then, puts fans into a frenzy.<\/p>\n

In a recent article, the cap was gone over<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many fans believe if the Jets maneuver their cap space in 2024, they won’t be able to keep everyone they want to in 2025. That’s actually not true.<\/p>\n

Michael Carter II is in the final year of his rookie deal this season. Additionally, Jermaine Johnson, Breece Hall, and Garrett Wilson are all eligible for contract extensions next season. Those are the four key players in this discussion.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at the impact of some major moves.<\/p>\n

Jets current 2025 cap space: $71,887,986<\/p>\n

Freeing Up Cap Space Won’t Hurt Extending Young Jets<\/h2>\n

Quinnen Williams: Restructure<\/h3>\n

There are two different types of restructures<\/a>. The Jets would do a simple restructure with Williams because it wouldn’t require his approval. His current base salary is $15.65 million. A restructure would knock it down to $1.125 million (league minimum for five accrued seasons). Then, the $14.525 million would be spread over the five years remaining as a signing bonus. This would save the Jets $11.62 million this season, but add $2.905 million next season.<\/p>\n

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

Current Reed deal<\/h4>\n

Base salary: $10.5 million
\nProrated signing bonus: $4,695,000
\nPer game roster bonus: $441,176 (LTBE), $58,824 (NLTBE)
\n2024 Cap hit: $15,636,176
\nCurrent 2025 Cap hit (three void years): $4.62 million<\/p>\n

Sample Extension:\u00a02 years, $23 million, $16.5 million guaranteed at signing ($9.375 million signing bonus)<\/h4>\n

2024<\/h5>\n

Base salary: $1.125 million
\nProrated signing bonus: $7,038,750
\nPer game roster bonus: $441,176 (LTBE), $58,824 (NLTBE)
\nCap hit: $8,604,926<\/p>\n

2025<\/h5>\n

Base salary: $12 million ($6 million guaranteed)
\nProrated signing bonus: $3,883,750
\nCap hit: $15,883,750
\nCap Savings: -$7,278,824<\/p>\n

Michael Carter II 2024 extension<\/h3>\n

4 years, $26.36 million, $15,366,000 guaranteed ($2.311 million signing bonus)<\/p>\n

2024<\/h5>\n

Base salary: $1.055 million
\nProrated signing bonus: $658,482
\nCap hit: $1,713,482<\/p>\n

2025<\/h5>\n

Base salary: $6 million ($6 million guaranteed)
\nProrated signing bonus: $576,250
\nCap hit: $6,576,250<\/p>\n

You also have to look at the fact that Allen Lazard is likely not going to be on the Jets in 2025. That cut will result in a savings of $6,632,000.<\/p>\n

Now, let’s look at sample contract extensions for Hall, Wilson, and Johnson.<\/p>\n

Garret Wilson<\/h3>\n

Current 2025 cap charge<\/h4>\n

Base salary: $1.1 million (fully guaranteed)
\nProrated signing bonus: $3,032,092
\nRoster bonus: $2,407,819 (fully guaranteed)
\nCap hit: $6,539,911<\/p>\n

New contract: 5 years, $106 million, $60 million guaranteed ($25 million signing bonus)<\/p>\n

Base salary: $1.1 million (fully guaranteed)
\nNew prorated signing bonus: $8,032,092
\nRoster bonus: $2,407,819 (fully guaranteed)
\nNew cap hit: $11,539,911
\nCap Savings: -$5 million<\/p>\n

Sauce Gardner<\/h3>\n

Current 2025 cap charge<\/h4>\n

Base salary: $1.1 million (fully guaranteed)
\nProrated signing bonus: $5,376,963
\nRoster bonus: $4,166,473 (fully guaranteed)
\nCap hit: $6,539,911<\/p>\n

New contract: 4 years, $93.1 million, $68.1 million guaranteed ($25 million signing bonus)<\/p>\n

Base salary: $1.1 million (fully guaranteed)
\nNew prorated signing bonus: $10,376,963<\/span>
\nRoster bonus: $2,407,819 (fully guaranteed)
\nNew cap hit: $15,643,436<\/span>
\nCap Savings: -$4.9 million<\/p>\n

Jermaine Johnson II<\/h3>\n

Base salary: $2,489,652 (fully guaranteed)
\nProrated signing bonus: $1,674,535
\nCap hit: $4,164,187<\/p>\n

New contract: 4 years, $88.1 million, $68.1 million guaranteed ($25 million signing bonus)<\/p>\n

Base salary: $1.1 million (fully guaranteed)
\nNew prorated signing bonus: $6,874,535<\/span>
\nRoster bonus: $2,407,819 (fully guaranteed)
\nNew cap hit: $13,382,354<\/span>
\nCap Savings: -$9,218,167<\/p>\n

Breece Hall<\/h3>\n

Base salary: $1,934,286 (fully guaranteed)
\nProrated signing bonus: $934,049
\nCap hit: $2,868,335<\/p>\n

New contract: 3 years, $28,934,286, $16,934,286 guaranteed ($5,934,286 signing bonus)<\/p>\n

Base salary: $1.1 million (fully guaranteed)
\nNew prorated signing bonus: $2,878,811<\/span>
\nNew cap hit: $3,978,811
\n<\/span>Cap Savings: -$1,110,476<\/p>\n

After all of the following moves, the Jets would still have $41,531,269 in cap space left for 2025. The deals for Gardner and Johnson include two years of guaranteed option bonuses, which lowers the cap hits for 2026 and 2027 because they are treated like signing bonuses. That helps with those two years.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the end, the Jets do have the possibility of signing young core players and maneuvering the cap for 2024. So, they absolutely should make some moves.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cap space seems like a tricky thing to deal with, and many fans get it wrong, but they can maneuver in 2024 without impacting 2025 extensions .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2066,"featured_media":172664,"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":[9064,9007,8994,9180,8859,218,4776,9573],"class_list":["post-172629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jets","category-editorials","tag-breece-hall","tag-d-j-reed","tag-garrett-wilson","tag-jermaine-johnson-ii","tag-michael-carter-ii","tag-new-york-jets","tag-quinnen-williams","tag-sauce-gardner"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172629","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=172629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}