The $91 million reason Joe Douglas might be the worst GM in Jets history

Former New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas did some good things during his time in New York.

He had a handful of hits in the draft, such as selecting franchise cornerstones Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner, and finding talented players like Breece Hall, Michael Carter II, and Joe Tippmann in the later rounds and beyond.

But outside those picks, Douglas oversaw a bad football team, accumulating a 32-68 record in five and a half seasons on the job. The worst thing he did to the franchise, though? Accumulate over $91 million in dead cap space, kicking the can down the road for the next regime to take the brunt of.

Jets dealing with $91 million in dead cap space thanks to Joe Douglas' past contracts

Over the Cap's Jason Fitzgerald shared a list of NFL teams dealing with the most dead cap space in the league heading into the 2026 offseason, and the Jets far and away have the most.

While a Jets fan can try to point to the Gardner and Quinnen Williams deals at the deadline that offloaded two of the team's biggest contracts with plenty of guaranteed money remaining, they're not even the biggest culprits.

Aaron Rodgers, the former Jets quarterback who was Douglas's last-ditch effort to put a winning product on the field, leads New York's dead cap charges with a whopping $35 million hole in their books heading into 2026, per Spotrac.

Then come Gardner and Williams, who each carry a dead cap hit of $11 million and $9.8 million, respectively. Given the return the Jets got from dealing both players, though, fans likely won't object to the price of three first-round picks and a second-round pick culminating in a $20.8 million charge for the 2026 season.

As we move further down the list, Douglas' irresponsible spending looks even worse.

Former Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley will cost the Jets $7.65 million thanks to a 2024 restructure. Mosely, who is now a year removed from retirement, is the fourth-highest dead cap hit.

Carter, whom Douglas signed to a three-year $30 million extension right before the 2024 season, is next on the list with a dead cap charge of $6.8 million, despite not even being on the roster anymore. The Jets traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline this past season.

Arguably, the most frustrating hit comes from wide receiver Allen Lazard, a player who only seemed to sign with the Jets thanks to his connections with Rodgers. Douglas inked the former Green Bay Packer to a four-year, $44 million contract in 2023, a deal that he never lived up to.

He was waived by the Jets in mid-December and remained a free agent despite being given the chance to pursue other opportunities. Not even the Pittsburgh Steelers were interested in his services, despite having Rodgers at quarterback.

After these contracts were voided, the Jets are still near the top of the league with roughly $79.7 million in cap space to work with heading into free agency, according to Over the Cap. But it's insane to think about the flexibility they could've had if there weren't a $91 million mess Darren Mougey had to deal with entering the offseason.

It just goes to show how desperate Douglas got towards the end of his Jets tenure, and the burden he left behind after getting fired.