4 NY Jets who robbed the team blind in 2023

The NY Jets have given out their fair share of bad contracts over the years. From Trumaine Johnson to Le'Veon Bell, the Jets haven't always gotten their money's worth when it comes to free-agent signings.

That has definitely been the case so far in the Joe Douglas regime as well. While Douglas has made plenty of notable value additions, such as the likes of D.J. Reed, Quincy Williams, etc., he's also overspent in free agency on a number of occasions.

Sometimes, the free-agent bust was predictable the moment the ink dried on the contract. Other times, things just didn't work out for a variety of reasons. Either way, the following four players on this list did not live up to their contracts in 2023.

Dishonorable mentions go to players such as C.J. Uzomah, Duane Brown, and even Zach Wilson (third-highest cap hit on the team in 2023), who all fell well short of expectations.

4. Carl Lawson, DE, NY Jets

The Carl Lawson signing seemed like a shrewd move at the time for Douglas and the Jets back in 2021, but a torn Achilles suffered in Lawson's first summer with the team derailed not only his Jets tenure but his entire NFL career.

The Jets had an opportunity to cut bait for virtually nothing this offseason, as they could have saved $15 million in cap space by releasing Lawson before the season started. Instead, they decided to restructure his contract, pushing dead money into the future to keep him on the roster.

He's rewarded them for their faith by playing in just six games this season. Lawson has been the odd man out in a crowded Jets defensive line rotation due largely to a back injury he suffered this summer.

Lawson isn't healthy, and it's a shame we never got to see him at 100 percent with the Jets. That said, considering the Jets could have saved $15 million by releasing him a few months ago, it's safe to say he hasn't come close to living up to his salary this year.

3. Laken Tomlinson, LG, NY Jets

Much like the Carl Lawson signing, the Laken Tomlinson addition seemed like an excellent move on paper. The former first-round pick was fresh off a Pro Bowl 2021 season, was a perfect scheme fit for the Jets' offense, and had missed just one game in his entire NFL career.

To Tomlinson's credit, he has stayed healthy with the Jets — a rare constant in a Jets' offensive line that has been decimated by injuries over the last two seasons. His performance on the field, however, has fallen well short of expectations.

It was fair to believe that Tomlinson would regress slightly with the Jets, given that he was no longer playing alongside All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams. No one would have predicted this, though.

Tomlinson struggled in his first season with the Jets in 2022 and has been even worse this season. The Duke product has given up a whopping 50 pressures this season — nine more than any offensive guard in football.

The gap between Tomlinson (who ranks first in pressures allowed with 50) and the player with the fifth-most pressures allowed (35) is the same as the gap between that player and the guard with the 48th-most pressures allowed.

Tomlinson has been the worst pass-blocking guard in the NFL this season, and it isn't really close. His abysmal 46.7 Pro Football Focus run-block grade also ranks 67th out of 77 qualified guards.

On an offensive line that has started 13 different players this season, Tomlinson is somehow in the conversation for being the worst of the bunch. That's not exactly what the Jets expected from a player they're paying over $13 million per year.

2. Dalvin Cook, RB, NY Jets

Now we get into the signings that were bad ideas from the start. First, we have a former Pro Bowl running back who managed to fool Joe Douglas and the Jets with gaudy box-score numbers and an impressive resume.

Anyone who closely watched Dalvin Cook play football in 2022 would tell you he lost a considerable step. No, Cook wasn't nearly as bad as he's been this season, but the four-time Pro Bowl running back finished dead-last in the NFL in RYOE (rushing yards over expected).

Every advanced analytic out there pointed to Cook's obvious and sharp decline the previous season, which is why it came as little surprise that the Vikings moved on in the offseason. The Jets, however, still believed Cook had something left in the tank.

Unfortunately, banking on an aging running back with over 1,300 career carries magically bouncing back after a down year isn't usually a wise strategy.

Cook has been dreadful for the Jets in 2023, averaging a lowly 3.2 yards per carry. He ranked second-worst among qualified running backs in RYOE/attempt this season before his role diminished to the point that he no longer qualified for the metric.

To make matters worse, Cook has dealt with fumbles, drops, and issues in pass protection — all three of which have plagued him throughout his career. Once Cook lost his explosiveness, he lost any usefulness to an NFL offense.

That sure makes the $7 million cap hit Cook has in 2023 (seventh-highest on the team) look even worse. The Jets could've used that money to address a number of other key needs.

Instead, they spent it on an obviously washed-up running back who should probably (and likely will) be out of the league next year. Talk about a poor use of resources.

1. Allen Lazard, WR, NY Jets

The Jets completely bungled the wide receiver position this offseason in every possible way. Everything from the Elijah Moore trade to their lack of interest in DeAndre Hopkins to whatever happened with Mecole Hardman was an utter disaster for the organization.

But no move exemplifies the Jets' incompetency this offseason more than the Allen Lazard signing.

Lazard struggled in his role as Green Bay's No. 1 wide receiver in 2022, but the hope was that he could still be a reliable complementary piece when the Jets signed him to a hefty four-year, $44 million contract this offseason.

Of course, Lazard had his issues with the Packers. He was among the league leaders in drop percentage and struggled to consistently separate from defenders. The Jets ignored the red flags and signed him anyway, perhaps in an attempt to reunite him with Aaron Rodgers.

Instead of the reliable No. 2 wide receiver the Jets hoped to have landed, they've received just 23 catches out of Lazard this season. That's his lowest total since his 2018 rookie campaign when he appeared in just one game.

It got so bad that the Jets opted to make Lazard a healthy scratch, activating three undrafted rookies over him. Jets head coach Robert Saleh even publicly suggested that the team already plans to release him the first chance they get after 2024.

The Jets gave Lazard more guaranteed money than any wide receiver in football this offseason, only to bench him for three undrafted rookies in one of the worst wide receiver rooms in the NFL. It doesn't get much worse than that.

The Lazard signing has a chance to go down as one of the worst in franchise history. Much like with Cook, the Jets simply ignored all the red flags.