NY Jets free up more cap space thanks to new CBA

The NY Jets will have the opportunity to free up more cap space with their release of Trumaine Johnson as a result of the newly-ratified CBA.

The NY Jets are one of many teams who will be impacted directly as a result of the newly-ratified CBA that was announced earlier on Sunday. And much like many other teams, they will be able to reap the benefits of the agreement.

The new CBA will introduce a ton of new elements into the NFL landscape — most notably a seventh playoff team per conference in 2020 and a 17th regular-season game in 2021. But the Jets will feel an immediate impact from the CBA in free agency.

The Jets will be able to free up a bit more cap space due to the terms of the new CBA. The old agreement didn’t allow for post-June 1st cut designations in the final year of the deal.

What exactly does that mean, however?

It means that the organization would be on the hook for the entire dead cap hit of any player who was released in the offseason. In the Jets’ case, this applies to cornerback Trumaine Johnson who has all but been officially released.

Johnson was reportedly informed of his release last week but the transaction hasn’t officially taken place yet. That’s because the Jets were awaiting the results of the CBA discussions before making their decision.

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If the CBA didn’t pass, the Jets would have had to pay all $12 million of Johnson’s dead cap hit this offseason, certainly limiting what they could do in free agency. However, since it did pass, that’s no longer the case.

Under the new CBA, the Jets will be allowed to spread Johnson’s cap hit over 2020 and 2021. ESPN’s Rich Cimini reports that the Jets will be on the hook for $4 million in 2020 and $8 million in 2021 if they decide to designate him as a post-June 1st cut.

Expect the team to do just that.

This means that the Jets will have an extra $8 million in cap space to play with this offseason which should come in handy. General manager Joe Douglas is expected to be very active in free agency and with numerous top targets demanding large sums of money, this becomes even more important.

The Jets still have time to free up more cap space before the new league year (hopefully) starts on Wednesday, but of course, the legal tampering period will begin on Monday.

At the moment, the Jets are projected to have a little over $50 million in cap space which ranks in the middle of the pack amongst NFL teams, but that number could rise if more cuts come in.

Nonetheless, the new CBA deal is certainly good news for a Jets team looking to spend this offseason.

Now, they’ll have a little more financial flexibility to do so.