Seems to be the trend lately so might as well start mine Starting Estimated Cap Room 38.6 mil Cuts for cap room (6.7) GVR (3.5) Ryan Griffin (3.2) Total Cap room after cuts 45.3 Mil rookie pool needed (estimated 15 mil Due to 2 high 1sts) total spending power 30. mil (rounded) Resigns (12 mil avg) feeny 1 year 2 mil kroft 2 years 4 mil (2 per year) foley 3 years 12 mil (4 per year) LDT 2 years 12 mil (4 cap charge in 2022, 8 cap charge in 2023) cap left 18 mil RFA/ERFAs/Minimums (total about 4 mil for all below) ward guidry white phillips walters parks Cap left 14 mil players that can walk (bigger names) Maye - wants too much coming off an Achilles injury, may not be ready for 2022 crowder - gonna be 29 and command more then we should pay him as a WR3 cole - made some nice catches but really a WR4 at best and i'd rather have young people there jarad davis - waste of money moses - just been ok. rather start building youth. he'll want to start somewhere and we don't have room for that Berrios - i'm not paying him 9 mil a year or anything close to that. . Free Agency (14 mil total) RB Connor 2 years 12 mil (4 mil cap charge in 2022, 8 in 2023)) K younghoe Koo 3 years 6 mil (2 mil avg) WR chark 4 years 48 mil (12 mil avg, 4 mil cap charge in 2022) That leaves us with about 0 mil on paper but JD can structure it so we can have some in season cap room. there is also a rumor we want to extend fant and by doing so can lower his 2022 cap number. we could do the same for mcgovern as well. should be able to free up in season spending money Draft Round 1 (4) - Kyle Hamilton (S) This obviously depends on what happens before us. Det, Hou, and Jax all pick before us. Det will likely take KT or hutchinson. Jax will take neal. So it depends on houston who will take either haimlton or whatever edge rusher is there. Honestly I think They take the edge leaving us with hamilton and i'm not mad about it at all. I know he's a safety but he's a game changing talent on the back end in every facet of the game. he's also a JD type of player with a huge football IQ (and actual IQ) who could QB the defense for us and create much needed turnovers. Round 1 (10) (from seattle) - Jermaine Johnson (EDGE) he's been flying up boards lately and jets seem to like him a lot from rumors. seems like a great fit and a JD player. was originally a late 1ts early 2nd but should be gone in the top 15 by the end of the combine. Round 2 (35) - Trey Mcbride (TE) Jets have a big hole at TE. it's no secret. there are 3 guys kinda vying for the top TE in the draft with likely, wydermeyer, and mcbride) this could be a trade down spot though. If another team really likes a player that fell out of the 1st. Round 2 (38) (from carolina) - trade down We don't have a lot of late picks so trading down at some point is very likely and fits the JD MO. trade up early for blue chippers and trade down later for extra picks. I think someone is here for value for somebody and we can probably move down about 4-6 spots for an extra 4th and still get a player we want. Round 2 (42-46 range) - Christian Harris (LB) a small speedy Will who can replace mosley in 2023. has the speed and ability to cover TEs and RBS something we badly need and to play in space in zones and shoot gaps and make tackles. Jets don't seem to think LBer is a need but saleh will want his fred werner type and I think it's a smoke screen. Round 3 (68) - Kylar Gordon (CB) again were going heavy on defense. We do need some CB help as well. hall is great, echols has been a pleasent suprise. Carter is a nice nickel and guidry a good dime. after those 4 though we are not looking good. Gordon has all the traits to be a CB1 for us allowing more depth and an upgrade at CB1/2 with hall and echols can move into a reserve role. With that said he's likely to fly up draft boards after the combine and wind up in the 2nd round but for now early 3rd is pretty realistic. Round 4 (107) - Erik Ezukanma (WR) WR will be a need for depth but we didn't need an early pick on one. Ezu is an interesting prospect i've seen some say he's a 1st rounder and others say he's a 7th rounder. realistically he'll be a mid round pick it seems. he's big and strong, not the fastest but fast enough. has the size to be a good blocker but needs technique and needs to work on his route running. he can make catches in traffic and uses his body well and has good hands. can get some YAC. he's a low budget burks. We won't need him right away barring injury but he's a guy who can hopefully replace corey davis in a couple of years Round 4 (113) -Cole strange (OG) Originally I had ed ingram here, but jets have been linked to strange and we need depth at o-line. could replace LDT in a year or 2 as well Round 4 (110-120) Calvin Austin III (WR) (extra pick from earlier trade down) A small speedy WR who can play slot or outside. he's basically low budget elijah moore or a jameson crowder type. based on the rest of my offseason he projects to start as the WR5 which is fine as he can refine his game as a rookie. Round 5 (144) - Obinna Eze (OT) Massive 6-8 330lb OT with athleticism. a project player who needs to work on technique but it's the 5th round and he has potential to be our starting RT in a couple of years when we move on from fant. Combined with becton thats 700lbs protecting the edges. UDFA - Zander Horvath FB a FB who fits MLFs system who can catch and run and block. he could be our kyle juszczyk. could also be the short yardage up back at 6-3 230lbs. (post 1 of 2 due to character limit)
(Post 2/2) Roster (R) = Rookie, (FA) = Free agent Defense EDGE Lawson, JFM, Johnson(R), Huff, philips, Blair DT Q, Foley, Rankins, Marshall (no change here, none needed) LBer Harris(R), Mosley, Sherwood, Quincy, Nasirildeen CB Hall, Gordon(R), Carter II, Echols, Guidry S Hamilton (R), Davis, Parks, pinnock (24) Offense QB Wilson, White RB Carter, connor (FA), walters, ty johnson WR Davis, chark, Moore, Ezukanma (R), Austin III (R), Mims, TE Mcbride, Kroft, Yeboah OT Becton, Fant, Edoga, Eze(R) OG AVT, LDT, strange (R), C Mcgovern, Feeny FB Horvath (R) (25) K Koo (FA) LS Hennesey P Mann PR/KR Austin (R) SP/T Hardee (4) Notable PS players DE Ward CB Dunn DE Zuniga WR Jeff smith Thats a 53 man roster and most of our cap room spent with just enough to work with during the season. We still have another year before we can compete but I feel it's a good improvement.Next year we have 156 mil (about 136 after we option Q in the next few weeks) with 26 people under contract. releasing mosley bumps it back to 151.5. then when I minus the draft of this year it's 11 more players about 15mil in cap charge. so thats 37 and 136.5 left. then the FAs I signed thats 3 more for about 18 mil. so 40 players 118.5 cap room. plus 7 draft picks is 47 players and about 113 mil left. more then enough to fill out the rest of the roster and finish fixing holes and complete On offense I think moore will be a true WR1 in this league but I like the idea of letting him work the slot the way tyreke hill does, so adding chark to play outside gives zach 2 big bodies, and then inside the elusive moore in the slot. rookies austin and ezukanma cna battle for the 4th and 5th spot but realistically austin would back up moore and ezu would back up chark and davis. austin also takes over the KR/PR role form berrios. Connor is a huge upgrade at RB to coleman and pairs nicely with carter. He's a great recieving back and a tough runner and a smart vet who can pick up blitzes. i'd like to see him as the 3rd down/short yardage back while carter plays on 1st and 2nd downs. Adding horvath to be our FB could open up the offense more. at TE draft mcbride should be huge, I would have liked to add another as well but the money/picks weren't there. On the o-line with LDT returning I didn't feel we needed anything immediate and instead used some late picks for depth/future starters. On Defense I really wanted to address not having playmakers. Taking hamilton just makes sense with our 1st pick. He has troy palamalu potential. he does everything. he's huge, fast, smart, and a good player already that isn't just potential. he's a game changer in the back end who can create turnovers for us. Were still weak at safety but I bring back parks and pinnock who looked better at safety at the end of the year and give davis the opportunity to show what he has in a make or break year for him. if he fails as a full time starter he cna be replaced next year. I like what parks did at the end of the year for us. could also bring in an UDFA to compete here. at the CB group I only added gordon who can push echols and hall for a starting job. I think we are good at Ni and Dime with carter and guidry so gordon won't be needed a lot as a rookie unless he beats echols or hall. At Lber i grabbed harris in the 2nd to be our fred werner for the next decade. whether that works or not who knows but he has that potential. Finally the D-line, not a lot has changed except for adding an edge in the top 10 with johnson. he's flying up boards and looks to be a perfect fit for us. him and lawson coming back plus JFM and huff and phillips and blair should provide a fresh rush with subs in and out like saleh likes. JFM can also slide inside and rush at DT with Q on 3rd downs and lawson/johnson on the outside. that could be a scary rush to face, especially with hall/echols/carter in coverage and hamilton roving back there waiting to pick a ball off. On special teams i shelled out a little for koo. He's not making much and has been great, i think we can lure him away with a little raise. he's 90% on FGs for his career, and 95% on XPs. doens't have a huge leg but very accurate. also he's 11-12 at 50+ so can hit 50 yarders. he's also the best onside kick kicker in the game. austin becomes the KR/PR in place of berrios.
Good efforts. I think this off-season will be JDs most active one yet. He knows RS much better and what they need to fill out this team. I expect him to wheel and deal in free agency and in the draft.
Again good job as always and thank you for your effort. I like the realism of your mock in that it shows how tight our budget is and how quickly those cap dollars will go away. I don’t expect JD to make a splash sticking with mid to low range signings at reasonable prices with the possibility of one big dollar signing.
