2022 Offseason Plan 1.0 Team Cap Space (according to OTC.com) $48,448,365 Cuts: Greg Van Roten $3.5 million Ryan Griffin $3,088,471 Blake Cashman $965k Sheldon Rankins $5.5 million Zane Lewis $705k LaMical Perine $895k Jabari Zuniga $895k Total $15,548,471 Adj. Cap Space $63,996,836 Re-Sign: Braxton Berrios $5.00 (3 year 15 million) Morgan Moses $5.0 million Joe Flacco $3.5 million Javelin Guidry $1.5 million Mike White $2 million Foley Fatukasi $5 million Jeff Smith $895,000 Kyle Phillips $895,000 Elijah Riley $895,000 Tim Ward $895,000 Total $22.105 million Signings: Xavier Woods, S $4.3 million Vikings DeVondre Campbell, LB $5.25 million Packers David Njoku, TE $6.9 million Browns Chandon Sullivan, CB $4 million Packers Matt Breida, RB $1.5 million Bills Younghoe Koo, K $2 million Falcons Total $23.95 million Cap Space less signings $17,941,836 Sign draft class: est. $13 million Balance $4,941,836 Likely TC cuts: Trevon Wesco Ty Johnson Ashton Davis Denzel Mims Chuma Edoga Nick Bawden Kai Nacua Austin Walter Javin White Rachad Wildgoose Parker Ferguson JD would need to work his cap magic to wind up with cap space to sign camp cuts and for in season emergencies around $12 million. Trades – Denver and Washington both want pick #4 to take Kenny Pickett. The Jets trade pick #4 to the Denver Broncos in exchange for picks #9, #40, #63, and #95 Draft Pick #9 – Nakobe Dean, OLB UGA https://thedraftnetwork.com/player/nakobe-dean/1RTJrHMMzI Pick #10 – Treylon Burks, WR Arkansas https://thedraftnetwork.com/player/treylon-burks Pick #35 – Trey McBride, TE Colorado St. https://www.profootballnetwork.com/trey-mcbride-colorado-state-te-nfl-draft-scouting-report-2022/ Pick #38 – Arnold Ebikitie, Edge Penn St. https://www.profootballnetwork.com/arnold-ebiketie- penn-state-de-nfl-draft-scouting-report-2022/ Pick #40 – Zion Johnson, OG Boston College https://thedraftnetwork.com/player/zion-johnson/t0XOabVe01 Pick #63 – Lewis Cine, S UGA https://thedraftnetwork.com/player/lewis-cine Pick #69 – Max Mitchell, OT Louisiana-Lafayette https://www.si.com/nfl/draft/scouting-reports/maxmitchell Pick #95 – Jeremy Ruckert, TE Ohio St. https://thedraftnetwork.com/player/jeremy-ruckert/f4NQJUC74J Pick #107 – Dohnovan West, C/OG Arizon St. https://www.si.com/nfl/draft/scouting-reports/dohnovanwest Pick #113 – Tyler Allgeier, RB BYU https://www.profootballnetwork.com/tyler-allgeier-byu-rb-nfl-draft-scouting-report-2022/ Pick #144 – Nick Broeker, OG Ole Miss https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nick-broeker-ole-miss-ot-nfl-draft-scouting-report-2022/ Pick #161 – Marcus Jones, CB/PR/KR Univ. of Houston https://www.profootballnetwork.com/marcus-jones-houston-cb-nfl-draft-scouting-report-2022/ Priority UDFA – Zander Horvath, FB https://www.profootballnetwork.com/...er-horvath-to-mirror-mike-alstott-in-the-nfl/ 53-man Roster Offense 25 QB: Wilson, Flacco, White RB: MC, Allgeier, Breida FB: Zander Horvath TE: Njoku, Trey McBride, Jeremy Ruckert, Kenny Yeboah WR: Davis, Burks, Moore, Berrios, J. Smith OT: Becton, Fant, Moses, Mitchell OG: AVT, Johnson, Broeker C: McGovern, West Defense 25 Edge: Lawson, Ebikitie, Huff, Phillips,Ward DT: Q. Williams, JFM, Fatukasi, Marshall LB: Mosely, Dean, Campbell, Q. Williams, Nasirildeen CB: Hall, MC II, Echols, Dunn, Guidry, Hardee, Jones S: Woods, Cine, Pinnock, Sherwood STs 3 K: Koo P: Mann LS: Hennessey
I think the one place in this mock that’s left very sparse to me is the DL. To begin with, it wasn’t even a very good DL this season… so subtracting players and adding nothing but a 2nd round DE seems like a recipe for another down year. JFM is not a DT, not on every down. That means there is very little rotation available, and if you have even a single temporary injury situation the depth at the position could end up with Fatukasi and Marshall as your starting interior linemen and no real rotation except when JFM comes in on pass rush downs?
I don’t like Nakobe Dean there. Think we can get away with Mosley and all the LB we drafted last year. We need to hold JD accountable for Sherwood and Nashamaian. I think it would be overkill with Ruckert and McBride if we sign Njoku love the trade back but don’t know much about the penny state edge. Will need to see.
If you’re not going to take an EDGE in the first I like Ebiketie…he has the speed, arm length and enough bend to be a serious pass rusher. Kinda reminds me of Lawson a bit oddly enough. This edge class is DEEP. I’ve seen him be the 10th best in this class but still can be a 2nd rounder…
Well done NC! 9 seems a little early for Dean IMO but I love Dean as a prospect so this wouldn't be the end of the world for me. The draft as a whole would be a home run. I think we'd land 5-6 immediate starters in this situation in Dean, Burks, McBride, Ebiketie, Johnson, and Cine. Plus some solid depth with the late round guys. I'll echo Max's comments too. I'd try to hang onto Rankins because otherwise our DT rotation would be a little lackluster. Having Q, JFM, Rankins, Foley, and Marshall would be solid. Overall, well done sir!
Thanks! It was THE hardest plan to come up with, and FA wasn't at all what I had hoped and wanted it to be. The amount of cap space we have is extremely deceptive. I'm no cap guru by any means, so that makes it tougher. It is possible that through contract renegotiations, more cap space could be added, or more FAs fit in under the cap. The problem is that we don't have many players with big contracts, so that makes it a lot tougher. There's really nowhere to get additional cap space except by contract maneuvering. I know that keeping Rankins would have kept our DL from getting a little thin, but he was awful vs. the run and just too big of a liability. More importantly, by cutting him it gave the team an additional $5.5 million in cap space, and that was the only place that we could get a significant chunk of space. The only other player we could have cut is Justin Hardee and that would have given a little over $2 million in additional cap space. I don't know how well he did on our STs this past season, but since he was so good with the Saints, and I haven't heard anything negative about him, I decided it best to keep him. Yeah, both Dean and Burks could have been taken a little early, but I'm a big believer in matching scheme fit and need. Both are perfect fits for our schemes. Both are great prospects with high ceilings. I don't believe in taking a prospect at another position that's not a need or less of a need just because he may be rated a hundredth of a point higher. If you love a player, have thoroughly vetted him, he loves the game, and is a great scheme fit you take him, and don't worry about the value. If the player is as good as you think he is, he will be a great value and no one will care where you took him. Better that, than miss out on that player altogether. As long as we re-sign Moses, we don't have a critical need at OT. If Becton doesn't come back in shape and play well, then we will have, but I don't believe that will happen.
I love this offseason. I think we would be very happy with both the free agents and draft picks you propose. My only quibble would be that I don't think we should leave the outside CB group as is (Jones strikes me as a tiny slot corner). More specifically, I think we need to add a CB to compete with Echols. I like Echols; he's a hell of an athlete and he showed good potential with some big plays towards the end of the season. However, his overall season was not that good (e.g., PFF ranked Echols as the 120th rated cornerback of the 122 they listed.) It strikes me that the prudent thing to do would be to get a CB in the draft or free agency to compete with Echols for #2 behind Hall. EDIT: Three outside corners with zone credentials who can be had in the mid rounds of the draft will be Mario Goodrich, Cam Taylor-Britt, and Akayleb Evans.
I hear you, and knew that you would disagree with how I handled the DL. That's fair, and no one said that we had to agree on that point. I wanted to do more with the DT position. After looking at things much more closely, I decided that you may be right that we did need to shore up the DT position, but I couldn't find a way to do it that I could live with. I truly believe that with a year in the scheme, Saleh/Ulbrich being flexible and adapting the scheme, and with better LB and S play, our run defense won't be the problem it was last year. I see the starters as Q. Williams and Fatukasi. Marshall wil back up Q most of the time, and JFM will rotate with Fatukasi most of the time, but occasionally going in at Q's spot or moving out to DE depending upon the opponent. Fatukasi gets a lot more pressure on opposing QBs than most Jets fans realize, and he's very good vs the run, so he should start and play 1st down and maybe 60% of second downs (because JFM will sometimes be rotating in at DE or Q's spot).I admit it could still be a weakness, but I believe in fixing our more dire needs and weaknesses first, then we can worry about DT. If there is a good NT prospect sitting at pick #144, I'd be fine with taking him instead of Broeker. I just wanted to make sure our OL depth was solid, as that is far more important to me than our DL. If Zach doesn't stay healthy and develop, it won't matter how great or how bad the D is. If you don't like Fatukasi, who would be an NT-type that we could sign for around $4-5 million per season? What are your thoughts on the rest?
Thanks. I don't think we need to draft a CB. I do think we need to add a veteran CB to compete with Echols, and I wanted to sign a vet FA CB like Casey Hayward or Chandon Sullivan or Rasul Douglas, but there just wasn't cap space. My moves would give us a great LB corps of Campbell, Mosely and Dean, but maybe that's a luxury. I thought it could do more to help fix our D than a vet CB as it would help the run defense and the pass defense over the middle, and with Campbell and Dean being so fast, they could even occasionally blitz. I may have way underestimated what Sullivan will get in FA anyway, and he's already 28-29, so maybe the money I used for him would be better spent on a vet CB. This was one of the most frustrating mental exercises I've ever attempted. I had hoped to be able to sign two big name FAs, and 4-5 2nd tier FAs, but was not able to. Perhaps JD can through contract restructuring, but then again we don't have a lot of players with big contracts, and Q Williams is going to need to be extended and paid. Projected market value for the 1st tier FAs is ridiculous, and it could be low, especially if a bidding war over a player starts, or if the Jets have to pay a premium to get a player to come play for them. Thanks for your comments. I appreciate it!
If Thibodeaux falls to #4, I'm taking him, the heck with the trade down, but I don't think he will, and I just don't like Karlaftis or any of the other Edges I've studied so far. It's still early, so my Edge selection could change a time or two before the draft. I really like what I've seen of Ebikitie so far. He also looks to have a true non-stop motor. In the video I saw, I didn't see him jogging around like Karlaftis. He was going all out on every play. I really respect your opinion. What are your thoughts on the rest?
I also didn't want to leave the team with only 5 WRs. With cap magic, I guess JD can keep Mims one more year or sign someone like Demarcus Robinson. The problem with that is more than just cap, however. Keeping another WR either means having one less TE or one less OL or one less defensive player.
Good point about how superior linebackers can help both the coverage and the run defense. I do think, though, that if JD can shoe-horn a free agent CB like Haywood into our budget, this would go a long way toward solidifying our secondary. Alternately, I'm also intrigued by draft corners like Mario Goodrich, Cam Taylor-Britt, and Akayleb Evans. Unlike Jones (who strikes me as a slot corner, a position we have fairly well covered with Carter II and Guidry), these are outside corners with zone credentials who can be had in the mid rounds of the draft. I share the concern about DT depth, as I also see JFM as the type of big, run/pass left end that Saleh likes from his SF days. I agree with you that Rankins did not play well enough (particularly against the run) to inspire confidence that he can be Fatukasi's backup. I think the Jets should consider drafting a good run defending DT (e.g., John Ridgeway) in the middle to later rounds of the draft
This was a thorough job …. Agree with most. I see you have Tomlinson on your final roster but I don’t see him on your FA list. He’s on SF right? I was curious what his $$ figures would be.
Thanks! Actually, Tomlinson is a mistake. His projected value is around $5.5 million per season. I initially had us signing him in FA, but had made a mistake forgotten about the DT spot. I had us drafting Zion Johnson and could have changed that for a DT or CB, and that is an option, but wanted to bring back Fatukasi, and figure that his contract will probably be around $5 million, so had to remove Tomlinson, and forgot to change Tomlinson to Johnson on the roster. I'm curious what you don't agree with. I'm interested in you input. Thanks again!
I forget where I ran across Jones. You're probably right that he is a slot CB. I didn't investigate him very thoroughly, just liked that he had 5 interceptions this past season, is a return man, and fast. He had 9 career KORs for TDs!!! Below is a draft profile on him. I primarily drafted him as a return man and STer, but it sounds like he could possibly help us out on D as well with some work. https://www.profootballnetwork.com/marcus-jones-houston-cb-nfl-draft-scouting-report-2022/ Below is a 100+ yard KOR for a TD in the final seconds vs SMU which gave Houston the victory.
I actually really like the shotgun approach to "fixing" our TE woes in this plan. I've decided I want the Jets to draft two and while I could live without signing the free agent I'm not against it. If the Jets don't accomplish anything else this offseason I want that TE issue fixed. I don't want to merely solve it. I want to solve the living crap out of it. And with our extra 2nd round pick (plus perhaps a trade down so somebody can draft Pickett) and all the fine looking TE prospects this year right around that round 2-3 value there is literally no excuse this time.
How dare you trade our # 4 pick! No seriously...your thought is that Edge Rusher while elite while important can be had at excellent to very good player in round 2 and 3 I like the haul we get and theselections well thought out..kudos
I would say pretty much what Maximus said regarding the DL - on paper it looks a little underwhelming but I admittedly I don’t know much about Ebikitie. Of course that would also revolve around the trade you assumed. For instance of the Jets stayed at #4 for whatever reason and Thibodeaux fell to them that would solve the DL issue for me. However with that trade you did get value and beefed up the interior OL and snagged Burks. Overall I think you did a great job. Personally if JD trades down my wish is he does it on the clock after seeing who the first 3 players off the board are but these days these big first round trades seem to be arranged prior. There will probably be a couple of positions still in need - the Jets at this point need another 2 offseasons to complete the roster.
I understand your not liking Dean there. It would give us a big of a luxury LB corps with Mosely, Dean, Campbell, and then Q. Williams and Nasirildeen as depth. The thing about Sherwood and Nasirildeen is that if they don't work out at LB, we can move them back to safety, and that's what I did with Sherwood. I thought by giving us a killer LB corps it would help both our pass and run defense, and by strengthening the Safety position, the CBs we have could be fine. It might indeed be overkill with Njoku, McBride and Ruckert. The thing to keep in mind however is that TEs are very important in this scheme and MLF wants to run some two TE offensive schemes, but couldn't last year because our TEs were so awful. Also, with the way injuries happen in the NFL, it doesn't hurt to have good depth. It can take players a year or two to develop, so this gives us some insurance and Njoku could be a one- or two-year signing, then it would be McBride and Ruckert hopefully, and we could add lesser players as depth. Kroft can't stay healthy and had too many big drops last year. Wesco is crap. Never heard of the Dillon kid. I think we need at least 3 very good TEs. I would rather have Thibodeaux at Edge, but will be shocked if he drops. I don't like Karlaftis. I think Ebiketie has a ton of talent and potential, and could start day one.
