NY Jets news: Aaron Rodgers recruited Calais Campbell, Bryce Huff is back

The NY Jets were interested in signing six-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Calais Campbell before he signed with the Atlanta Falcons earlier this month. They nearly signed him too.

Campbell told CBS Sports' Josina Anderson that Aaron Rodgers actually texted Campbell in an attempt to recruit him to sign with the Jets. Rodgers' message? "Come on man, let's go win a championship together."

Campbell admitted that it was "appealing" to have Rodgers message him, but that he "just had this gut feeling that Atlanta was a special place and the value I could bring would be most effective there."

Rodgers did his best to convince Campbell to sign with the Jets, but his efforts were in vain. Campbell's gut feeling trumped all.

Other NY Jets news

Jets officially bring back Bryce Huff

Jets defensive end Bryce Huff officially signed his restricted free agent tag on Wednesday, solidifying his return to the Jets in 2023. The Jets placed a second-round tender worth $4.3 million on Huff last month.

The team's decision to use a second-round tender is evidence of how highly they think of the former Memphis standout. They didn't want any other team attempting to sign Huff to an offer sheet.

Huff has developed into a quality rotational edge rusher over the last three years and is arguably the team's most efficient pure pass rusher. His 88.4 Pro Football Focus pass-rush grade ranked seventh among all qualified edge rushers last season.

Huff played just 20 percent of the Jets' defensive snaps last season, although it's hard to argue he hasn't earned a more sizable role in 2023. Here's to hoping that happens.

How much cap space do the Jets have?

With under a week remaining until the 2023 NFL Draft, it's worth taking a look at how much salary cap space the Jets have at the moment. Over The Cap has the Jets with exactly $7,921,423 in cap space at the time of writing.

That would be enough to sign all of the team's draft picks, but it definitely won't be enough to acquire Aaron Rodgers. The Jets still have quite a few roster moves to make as we approach the end of April.

Fortunately, the Jets probably have more financial flexibility than you think. They can cut/trade Corey Davis and restructure/rework the contracts of C.J. Mosley and/or Carl Lawson to create more than enough cap space necessary to trade for Rodgers and make other moves.

The Jets don't have much cap space at this very moment, but they have quite a few ways to change that.