The New York Jets have a pivotal 2023 offseason ahead with a handful of needs that must be addressed, but they hardly have any cap space to work with. Per Over The Cap, the Jets will have $3.4 million in cap space after the release of Braxton Berrios goes through.
They did start creating cap space on Wednesday when they reworked CJ Uzomah’s deal, which freed up $3.6 million. But, as a result of the limited resources they still have at their disposal, the Jets are reportedly looking to get creative by restructuring even more contracts.
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The New York Jets are looking to restructure more contracts:
According to a recent report from Rich Cimini of ESPN, the Jets are contacting agents to re-work contracts. Cimini mentioned C.J. Mosley, John Franklin-Myers, and DJ Reed as contracts the Jets can restructure to add cap space for this upcoming free agency.
Franklin-Myers is easily the best contract for the Jets to re-work. He is still only 26 years old, coming off his third-consecutive good year for the Jets, and is under contract for another three years through 2025. Also, Franklin-Myers is the most logical contract for the Jets to restructure because his prorated bonus is incredibly low at $400K. Depending on how they structure things, the Jets can add up to $7.28 million in cap space with a Franklin-Myers restructure. If they choose to maximize the restructure, his prorated bonus would go up $3.6 million to a little over $4 million.
Reed is another top candidate on the Jets for a re-done contract. Coming off an All-Pro caliber season, still only 26, and under contract through 2024, Reed makes a ton of sense. His current prorated bonus is $3.1 million, and he has a cap hit of $14.1 million for 2023. At the very most, the Jets can create $4.9 million in cap space with Reed. On the flip side, however, his prorated bonus would go up to $8.1 million, and his cap hit for 2024 would be over $19 million. The Jets would be wise to do some minor tinkering to Reed’s deal. It may not be the best decision to fully maximize resources upfront with Reed.
Lastly, with Mosley, this would be the second contract restructure for him in just seven months. Certainly, not ideal. Currently, his prorated bonus is already fairly high at $4.4 million, and that includes void years already on his deal. With his base salary of $17 million this year, Mosley’s cap hit is currently the highest on the Jets, at $21.4 million. At the most, the Jets can add $10.5 million in cap space for 2023. However, Mosley’s prorated bonus would go up to $9.7 million, and his cap hit for 2024 would go from $21.4 million to $25.4 million. Similar to Reed, the Jets may be better off not maximizing resources up front in a possible re-done contract with Mosley.
The final point is that the Jets can also help themselves upfront by adding void years onto any restructured contracts, similar to what they chose to do with Uzomah. However, that does push more money into the future when the players are no longer under contract with the team. Ultimately, the Jets need some help with their budget right now and will likely execute some contract restructures to do so in the coming days.