Keep Or Cut: A deep look at 7 NY Jets players who offer cap savings

3. Jordan Whitehead, S, NY Jets

• Cap Savings: $7.2 million
• Dead Cap: $2.9 million

We're back to an example in which timing is not a factor — those are the numbers regardless of when a cut happens. Jordan Whitehead is part of a 2022 free agency class that was pretty much all duds aside from D.J. Reed.

Whitehead is especially disappointing, as he is a blood relative to one of the most beloved Jets of all time, and has a Super Bowl ring, so a lot was made of his signing.

Especially with some of the talent they've had at safety recently (Jamal Adams, Marcus Maye) it was important that they didn't abandon the position altogether after letting two talented players walk.

Unfortunately for all of us, Whitehead left a lot to be desired on the field. Perhaps most importantly, he left a lot of tackles on the field time and time again. According to PFF, he was the 47th-ranked safety in the league. For those of you keeping score at home, there are only 32 teams in the NFL

Now in his defense, this was his first year in Robert Saleh's scheme and working with Jeff Ulbrich's play-calling. For all of the talks of Ulbrich's rotation throughout the year, Whitehead had an eye-popping snap share of 99.3% which enabled him to accumulate his career high in tackles despite the disappointingly high missed-tackle rate.

The Verdict

Keep him. At 25 years old (26 in March), it's fair to assume that he is still improving. If the Jets cut him, will they be able to get a suitable replacement with the $7.2 million they'd save?

Since they must also replace Lamarcus Joyner, it may be too much to ask for two brand new safeties to start and be any more reliable than our incumbent options if these new safeties are signed on such a small budget.