What the offseason cuts mean for 2018

By Michael Pallas | Jul 1, 2017

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - OCTOBER 20: David Harris #52 of the New York Jets reacts during the second quarter against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on October 20, 2013 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

The cuts the New York Jets made this offseason have been a necessary evil, even though many fans disagree with some of them.

The New York Jets have made several offseason cuts in 2017. The most recent cuts of David Harris and Eric Decker had the sports world buzzing. That, however, was mostly due to timing. The timing for Decker made some sense. They wanted to try to trade him, and they needed to make sure he was healthy. The Harris cut was ill-timed.

That being said, according to Tony Williams of Metro NY, the Jets did try to work out a pay cut deal before cutting Harris:

The releasing of Harris will garner the Jets approximately $6.5 million in valuable salary cap space. He was slated to earn said $6.5 million this season and the team reportedly tried to work out a pay cut despite none of that salary being guaranteed. When those talks broke down, Harris got the ax outright, meaning this transaction has the smell of a cost-cutting move.

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So, what does that mean for the future of the Jets? It means a lot from a team-building perspective. The Jets have repeatedly said they want to build through the NFL Draft. That’s fine and dandy, but you do need to add key veteran free agents too.

There’s a carryover instituted by the last CBA agreement by the NFL and the NFLPA. It’s very simple. A team must notify the NFL by the beginning of the league year how much they intend to carry over.

According to Over the Cap, the Jets have $24,322,470 in cap space, at the moment. They also project the Jets to have $66,331,682 in cap space for 2018. That’s a total of $90,654,152 if they choose to carry over all of it.

The Jets aren’t a win-now (in terms of being a Super Bowl contender) team. If a player can’t help past 2017, then it’s worth cutting them to save money. The way things are handled may seem harsh. Unfortunately, it’s the nature of NFL economics. As Sean Combs once told us, “It’s all about the Benjamins.” In this case, it’s lots and lots of Benjamins.