NY Jets should consider signing RT Morgan Moses in free agency

Veteran offensive tackle Morgan Moses was recently granted his release by the Washington Football Team and the NY Jets should be one of the many NFL teams that look to take advantage of this opportunity.

Moses has been a rock-solid starting right tackle for Washington over the past half-decade having started all 96 possible games since the 2015 season.

He's been durable and effective, but following the signing of former Chicago Bears left tackle Charles Leno Jr., Washington opted to release the well-respected veteran.

Now a free agent, Moses is expected to garner plenty of interest on the open market.

The NY Jets should consider signing Morgan Moses

While the Jets should be interested in Moses, it's probably best to throw out there that this is an unlikely scenario. The Jets are comfortable with George Fant as their right tackle and believe that he will perform better in their new offensive system.

Fant was fine in 2020, although he's hardly an exciting starting option. The 28-year-old finished with a very poor 61.6 Pro Football Focus grade that ranked him 64th out of all offensive tackles. There are only 64 starting tackles in the NFL.

The Jets believe that Fant's lateral mobility and athletic traits will make him a good fit in new offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur's scheme, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't explore a possible upgrade.

Moses finished the 2020 season with an excellent PFF grade of 80.6 that ranked him as the 18th-best tackle in the NFL. In particular, his 85.9 run-block grade was top-10 in the league.

Moses isn't quite the athlete that Fant is and wouldn't be as seamless of a fit as his counterpart, but he's a better player by a significant margin. From a talent perspective, it's a no-brainer.

The former third-round pick did turn 30-years-old this past March, but he's showed no signs of slowing down with 2020 being arguably his best season in years.

Where things could get a little tricky is with the finances.

Fant already received $4.45 million of his $8.5 million salary back in March meaning that cutting him would come with a sizable dead cap charge.

If the Jets cut Fant after June 1st, they would be hit with a $5.45 million dead cap charge. However, they'd still save $4.38 million in the process. The Jets would save money by cutting Fant and likely pay a very marginal fee to upgrade by signing Moses.

It's hard to imagine Moses getting any more than $5-6 million at this stage of the offseason. Of course, it's never a great look to take on dead money, but if you could essentially pay $2 million to upgrade significantly at right tackle, why not do it?

Ideally, the Jets could keep Fant and instead release a player like Alex Lewis who holds a much smaller dead cap charge. The Jets could save over $6 million by releasing Lewis and be hit with a dead cap charge of less than $1 million.

That said, would the Jets really want to carry Fant around as a swing tackle making just under $10 million per season? It's unlikely. They could also consider moving Fant to guard, although it's unclear if he has the play strength to hold up inside.

Whichever scenario the Jets take, they'd be further upgrading their offensive line for the net price of around $1-3 million.

It's unlikely that the Jets actually do this as they seem content with Fant and believe in his potential in the new system. But at the very least, why not explore Moses' market?

The Jets should seriously consider signing Morgan Moses.