NY Jets shouldn’t pay Logan Ryan his reported asking price

The NY Jets have reportedly shown interest in signing free-agent cornerback Logan Ryan. However, they shouldn’t be willing to pay his reported asking price.

It’s been a few days since it was originally reported that the NY Jets believed that they were set to sign free-agent cornerback Logan Ryan. And while that still might happen, it seems that he’s very much still on the open market.

Manish Mehta of the NY Daily News reported on Tuesday that the Jets expected to sign Ryan to a one-year deal. Perhaps some took the report too literally, however, as Ryan’s comments on “Good Morning Football” on Thursday indicated otherwise.

The 29-year-old insisted that he was still “completely open for business” in his interview with NFL Network on Thursday. And now, his reported asking price seems higher than the Jets might be willing to pay.

Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reported on Friday that Ryan was looking for a contract worth more $10 million per season.

Previously Ryan had said that he would entertain the possibility of a short-term deal, but he wouldn’t take less than the $10 million he earned last season with the Tennessee Titans. And so far, the Titans are the only team he’s ruled out.

At this stage, $10 million per season on a multi-year deal would be a sizable chunk of money to hand over to a free agent and most teams around the league either won’t be able to afford or are unwilling to sign such a deal.

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Would the Jets be one of those teams?

At the moment, the Jets have around $15 million in available cap space with another $11 million coming on June 1st once the Trumaine Johnson release becomes official. However, expect around $9 million to go towards signing their draft class.

That would leave the Jets with right around $17 million in available money to spend once all is set and done. There’s still some money to play with there, but signing Ryan at his proposed price would essentially take them out of the running for any other top remaining free agent.

And considering the fact that the Jets might be looking to sign a backup quarterback or kicker — among other top names on the market — that simply isn’t reasonable.

Of course, the team could save some cap space by releasing Brian Winters and his $7 million cap hit, but even so, signing Ryan to a deal worth more than $10 million in 2020 would eat into their funds.

Not to mention, is he even worth that much at this stage of free agency?

The seven-year veteran has been a reliable starter and his versatility to play either the slot or the outside makes him very intriguing to the Jets. However, his play dipped last season and that figure seems awfully steep considering the value they got on deals for both Pierre Desir and Brian Poole.

The combined value of Desir and Poole’s contracts is $8.75 million. Ryan would be asking for more than the Jets’ top two projected cornerbacks are making in 2020 combined

It’s just not worth it.

The Jets would be better off allocating that money elsewhere — perhaps to sign a player like Larry Warford.

If Logan Ryan is deadset on making $10 million or more per season, the Jets should move on and target other remaining free agents.