NY Jets ‘fully expected’ to release Trumaine Johnson ahead of free agency

NY Jets are ‘fully expected’ to release veteran cornerback Trumaine Johnson ahead of free agency. Here are all the details.

It’s been speculated, it’s been talked about, and the formality is fully expected to come to fruition sooner rather than later.

Veteran cornerback Trumaine Johnson is expected to be released by the NY Jets within the coming weeks, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini.

Back in March of 2018, Johnson signed a record-breaking five-year $72.5 million contract which featured $34 million guaranteed.

The team was hoping that Trumaine and his lanky frame (6-foot-2, 213 pounds) would fill the No. 1 corner void on the roster. Unfortunately, Johnson brought a ton of baggage with him: work ethic issues, injuries, and inconsistent play.

In two seasons, Johnson only started 15 out of 32 possible games during his short tenure with the NY Jets.

When the Jets release Trumaine it’ll leave the team with $12 million in dead money, but at the same time, it’ll create $3 million in cap space.

Johnson was a locker room cancer and caused a ton of discord, but even when the team moves on they’ll still have a void to fill in their secondary.

Here are the players they have on the roster at corner: Bless Austin, Kyron Brown, Nate Hairston, and Darryl Roberts.

These players are set to become unrestricted free agents: Brian Poole, Maurice Canady, and Arthur Maulet (restricted free agent).

There are a lot more question marks than answers for the NY Jets currently, but they have over $60 million in cap space and a bevy of selections available in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Trumaine Johnson is a cautionary free agency tale that failed, but that shouldn’t stop the NY Jets from dipping their toe back into the waters in 2020. In free agency, there’s going to be successes and failures that’s just the nature of the beast.