4 NY Jets who could be traded this offseason including Denzel Mims

2. C.J. Mosley, LB, NY Jets

C.J. Mosley is a good player, and his return from nearly two years away from football in 2021 was nothing short of remarkable. Unfortunately, the contract he's currently on happens to be one of the worst in the entire NFL.

When former general manager Mike Maccagnan signed C.J. Mosley to his record-breaking five-year, $85 million contract in the 2019 offseason, he reset the inside linebacker market.

A few years later, Mosley hasn't come close to living up to a contract that he would have had to play like Ray Lewis to live up to. Mosley is coming off a good, albeit inconsistent at times, season where he led the Jets with 168 total tackles.

The former Alabama star is the leader of the defense and someone the coaching staff loves. But if they have the opportunity to shed his contract, they won't think twice.

Unfortunately, Mosley carries a dead cap charge of $17.5 million if released this offseason, meaning that cutting him is out of the question. They'll have to wait until next offseason to do that, and they're pretty much guaranteed to at this point.

However, if some team was willing to take on his salary, the Jets could trade Mosley with a much smaller dead cap hit. Trading him before June 1st saves them $13 million in cap space and comes with a dead cap charge of $4.5 million.

If they were to wait until after June 1st, that dead cap hit shrinks to just $1.5 million while $3 million carries over into 2023.

Again, the Jets love Mosley, but this is a numbers game. If any team is willing to take on his salary and perhaps send a late-round pick over, the Jets probably jump at the opportunity.