Jets talking to Austin Howard

Endlessly Counting · Feb 19, 2014

Sign him
He's a must

Jay Bizniss · Feb 19, 2014

Sign this beast.. Very important piece of our line, and he has shown that he can play.. Lock him up Idzik.

NCJetsfan · Feb 20, 2014

Br4dw4y5ux said: ↑

You have to compare guys like that.

You have to compare guys like that.

You have to compare guys like that.

The salary cap is what it is. It puts a strict limit on the amount of money you can pay your roster. If you pay an average player as though he was a good player that leaves less space under the cap to pay players who are actually good as if they were good players.

That means you have fewer good players on your roster because those guys have no problem finding somebody else who will pay them like they are a good player.

The Jets have at least 3 very good defensive linemen at this point. Depending on how you view Coples they may have 4 of those guys.

None of those guys is going to play for $2.5M a year when they come due just because the Jets signed Austin Howard to a $4M+ a year deal and the cap doesn't support paying 3 defensive linemen well in that situation.

The choice you make in signing Austin Howard above his level is that you may well not be able to re-sign Mo Wilkerson at an affordable deal in the next year. That in turn could lead to not being able to re-sign Sheldon Richardson to a reasonable deal at the point he comes due. Both of those events could lead to Damon Harrison going out the door at 27 because you just don't have the cap room to sign him and he's not interested in a $2.5M a year deal just because you screwed up and paid Austin Howard like he was a much better player than he is.

It's all related. Players watch and see what other players get and they make their calculations off of that. Nobody is going to take it on the chin to save the Jets cap and keep them competitive when that player comes due.

Paying Austin Howard $2M a year more than he should get drives up costs everywhere. It deprives the Jets of needed cap space year after year and it's easy for them to get caught in the switches in that situation.

The Seahawks RT this year was Breno Giacomini. He's a 28 year old journeyman RT taken in the 5th round in 2008. He's bounced around a bit but he stuck with the Seahawks in 2011, at the age of 25. They saw enough of him in 2012 when he started 16 games to offer him a 2 year $6.5M contract. That's what he was worth to them.

I'd argue that Howard's value is somewhere below Giacomini's but in the vicinity. He's not at the level that Vollmer is, and for that to be his asking point should be the queue for the Jets to let him hit the market and see what he's worth. If they sign him as though he was a top 8 RT they're just bidding against themselves. That's what kills the cap.
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Good series of posts. I totally agree. I'd rather have Giacomini. He's better and younger. Him I might give $4-5 million a year, but not Howard.

pdxdrew · Feb 20, 2014

Good. The offensive line really gelled at the end of the year. He was a key reason.

All Gas No Shake · Feb 20, 2014

giacomini signed his deal with seattle when he was still a backup

vollmer would have gotten a lot more than 4.5 mill per year if he wasnt so injury prone ... $4 mill a year for the prime years of a durable, ascending RT like howard is fair market, imo

Jets talking to Austin Howard

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