Following the signing of Duane Brown last Thursday, a move the New York Jets needed to make, the specifics on the structure of his contract have just been shared. With the Jets tight up against the budget for both 2022 and 2023, the details of this contract was the final information we needed to see. Brown joined the Jets at the facility yesterday and signed.
Taking a look at the contract Duane Brown signed with the New York Jets:
Per Over The Cap, the deal is for two years, worth $20 million and with $9 million of that guaranteed. He is getting paid $10 million in both 2022 and 2023.
Brown got a signing bonus of $7.88 million. Joe Douglas added three void years on this contract, something he has hardly done. With that, Brown’s signing bonus prorates through 2026 and is worth $1.576 million against the Jets cap each of the next five years.
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Along with the signing bonus, the rest of Brown’s money this year consists of $1 million in other bonus money, and he has a base salary worth a minimum of $1.12 million which is fully guaranteed. With the void years tacked on, Brown’s 2022 cap hit is just $3.696 million.
Come 2023, Brown has a base salary of $9 million and a $1 million bonus, none of which is guaranteed. With the three void years added, however, Brown still has a dead cap amount of $6.304 million in 2023 despite no guaranteed cash. If the Jets release Brown next year, they would still free up $5.272 million. In total, Brown has a 2023 cap hit of $11.576 million.
All of Brown’s three void years will only work against the Jets’ budget in 2024. He has a cap number of $4.728 million (the $1.576 multiplied). Therefore, even with the three void years added, Brown, will not account against the Jets’ budget over the final two years of it.
The structure of this contract is somewhat of a surprise, knowing Douglas has not looked to commit to void years. In this situation, though, the Jets are lacking in space up front and needed to sign Brown. The Jets have $6.1 million in cap space for this year and are very tight next year at $470K.