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Jets offseason moves tracker: Signings, re-signings, trades, cuts and contract restructures
Mike Maccagnan
Can Mike Maccagnan fix the Jets? (Brian Spurlock | USA TODAY Sports)
Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 12, 2015 at 4:34 PM
The rebuilding effort is underway in Florham Park, where the Jets' new general manager, Mike Maccagnan, and new head coach, Todd Bowles, have settled into their offices.
Now comes the hard part -- turning around a team that missed the playoffs the past four seasons and went 8-8-, 6-10, 8-8 and 4-12 along the way.
This offseason, Maccagnan will attempt to sign and draft players who can make the Jets a winner again. Throughout the offseason, we will track the Jets' various moves in this post -- all the signings, cuts, contract restructures and other transactions.
We've already detailed 13 players the Jets should target in free agency. We also told you which Jets players will be free agents this offseason. And we ranked the Jets' position needs heading into free agency.
But in terms of the stamp Maccagnan has already put on the Jets, here's a look at what he's done so far:
SIGNINGS
• CB Darrelle Revis: The Jets landed their big target in free agency. They paid a hefty price -- $39 million guaranteed, all in the first three years of a five-year contract. But Revis is worth it, especially for a team that had such a terrible secondary last season. Revis is officially returning to the Jets, something their fans surely never envisioned when they traded him away after the 2012 season to Tampa Bay.
What it means: The Jets' secondary just got a whole lot better. Revis will count $16 million against the Jets' salary cap this season and $17 million in 2016, but the Jets need to spend a bunch of money to comply with the NFL's minimum cash spending rules anyway. Plus, the Jets had more than enough cap room in 2015 to fit Revis in. The bottom line is, the Jets desperately needed good corners, and they got maybe the best corner in the NFL.
• CB Antonio Cromartie: He is reuniting with his old pal Revis. They played together with the Jets from 2010-12. This time around, Revis planned to recruit Cromartie into a reunion. Cromartie spent last season in Arizona, where he improved upon his dreadful 2013 season and moved past his nagging hip injury. Cromartie turns 31 in April. How much does he have left?
What it means: Cromartie and Revis figure to be the Jets' two outside corners, with free agent pickup Buster Skrine playing in the slot. Dee Milliner and Dexter McDougle -- who likely would've been the outside cornerback starters last season if both remained healthy -- would factor in on nickel and dime packages. Maccagnan is throwing a lot of resources at upgrading the Jets' secondary, which stunk last season.
• CB Buster Skrine: The Jets gave him $13 million guaranteed. He comes from the Browns, where he was the No. 2 cornerback behind Joe Haden. Skrine struggled with penalties last season, and he's on the smaller side, but he was a fairly well-regarded free agent.
What it means: There's a good chance Skrine takes over the slot corner spot that was vacated when the Jets let first-round bust Kyle Wilson walk in free agency. Skrine isn't a star. But Skrine, and everybody else in the Jets' secondary, will benefit from the presence of Revis, who can expertly play man-to-man coverage and take away an opponent's top receiver.
• OG James Carpenter: He arrives from Seattle, where he had mixed results over four seasons. He is a former first-round draft pick. His Pro Football Focus ratings last year, among guards: 47th overall, 27th as a pass blocker and 62nd as a run blocker.
What it means: The Jets are moving on from aging right guard Willie Colon, a free agent. The two guys who have played left guard over the past two seasons, Brian Winters and Oday Aboushi, are both going to be third-year pros in 2015. But both remain unproven. Winters is coming off a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee last season. Between Carpenter, Winters, Aboushi and second-year pro Dakota Dozier, the Jets need to find two starters.
• CB Curtis Brown: He signed a one-year, $660,000 contract with no guaranteed money. He was out of football last season, after the Steelers released him in March. They drafted him in the third round in 2011, and he played 34 games for them over three seasons, with no starts.
What it means: He obviously isn't a No. 1 corner type, but his signing adds another body to an attrition-riddled position that desperately needs bodies. Brown was a successful special teams player in Pittsburgh, so he adds value there, as he will attempt to make the 53-man roster this spring and summer.
• DE Ronald Talley: He didn't play in the NFL last season, but Jets coach Todd Bowles knows him well, because Talley was with the Cardinals in 2013, when Bowles was their defensive coordinator. Talley entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Packers in 2009.
What it means: This is a depth signing for the Jets' defensive line. Two backups, end Leger Douzable and nose tackle Kenrick Ellis, are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents next week. If the Jets re-sign Douzable and Ellis, they probably won't need Talley. If both players sign elsewhere, Talley could be useful.
RE-SIGNINGS
• MLB David Harris: The Jets re-signed their middle linebacker, keeping him away from former coach Rex Ryan, who now leads the Bills. Harris, a 31-year-old whom the Jets drafted in the second round in 2007, got a three-year, $21.5 million contract, with $15 million guaranteed (all in the first two years). Harris was the Jets' top pending in-house free agent, and they absolutely wanted to retain him. They did.
What it means: The Jets will bring back both Harris and weak-side linebacker Demario Davis, their other inside linebacker in their 3-4 defense. The Jets still have outside linebacker/edge rusher needs. But they won't need to worry about finding a new middle linebacker in free agency, now that Harris is returning to them.
• RB Bilal Powell: Another priority re-signing for the Jets, who weren't interested in C.J. Spiller of the Bills, as it turned out. The Jets drafted Powell in the fourth round in 2011, so his rookie contract was about to expire. But like Harris, the Jets never let Powell hit free agency, re-signing him about four hours before he was going to become a free agent.
What it means: The Jets will count on Powell, their third-down/pass-protection back last year, to have a bigger role in Chan Gailey's offense in 2015. Perhaps he can be a weapon catching passes out of the backfield. Chris Ivory, a power back, is clearly the Jets' No. 1 back. But now that Chris Johnson is gone, that means more carries for Powell, as a quickness/pass-catching complement to Ivory. Powell had just 33 carries last season, after 176 in 2013 and 110 in 2012. He caught just 11 passes on 15 targets in 2014. A year earlier, he was targeted 57 times and caught 36 balls. In 2012, he was targeted 36 times and caught 17 passes. Powell has some potential. He doesn't turn 27 until October. The Jets chose him over Johnson, who is three years older than Powell and had 155 carries last year, as the Jets' No. 2 back. Now, can Powell prove them right?
Mike Maccagnan
Can Mike Maccagnan fix the Jets? (Brian Spurlock | USA TODAY Sports)
Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 12, 2015 at 4:34 PM
The rebuilding effort is underway in Florham Park, where the Jets' new general manager, Mike Maccagnan, and new head coach, Todd Bowles, have settled into their offices.
Now comes the hard part -- turning around a team that missed the playoffs the past four seasons and went 8-8-, 6-10, 8-8 and 4-12 along the way.
This offseason, Maccagnan will attempt to sign and draft players who can make the Jets a winner again. Throughout the offseason, we will track the Jets' various moves in this post -- all the signings, cuts, contract restructures and other transactions.
We've already detailed 13 players the Jets should target in free agency. We also told you which Jets players will be free agents this offseason. And we ranked the Jets' position needs heading into free agency.
But in terms of the stamp Maccagnan has already put on the Jets, here's a look at what he's done so far:
SIGNINGS
• CB Darrelle Revis: The Jets landed their big target in free agency. They paid a hefty price -- $39 million guaranteed, all in the first three years of a five-year contract. But Revis is worth it, especially for a team that had such a terrible secondary last season. Revis is officially returning to the Jets, something their fans surely never envisioned when they traded him away after the 2012 season to Tampa Bay.
What it means: The Jets' secondary just got a whole lot better. Revis will count $16 million against the Jets' salary cap this season and $17 million in 2016, but the Jets need to spend a bunch of money to comply with the NFL's minimum cash spending rules anyway. Plus, the Jets had more than enough cap room in 2015 to fit Revis in. The bottom line is, the Jets desperately needed good corners, and they got maybe the best corner in the NFL.
• CB Antonio Cromartie: He is reuniting with his old pal Revis. They played together with the Jets from 2010-12. This time around, Revis planned to recruit Cromartie into a reunion. Cromartie spent last season in Arizona, where he improved upon his dreadful 2013 season and moved past his nagging hip injury. Cromartie turns 31 in April. How much does he have left?
What it means: Cromartie and Revis figure to be the Jets' two outside corners, with free agent pickup Buster Skrine playing in the slot. Dee Milliner and Dexter McDougle -- who likely would've been the outside cornerback starters last season if both remained healthy -- would factor in on nickel and dime packages. Maccagnan is throwing a lot of resources at upgrading the Jets' secondary, which stunk last season.
• CB Buster Skrine: The Jets gave him $13 million guaranteed. He comes from the Browns, where he was the No. 2 cornerback behind Joe Haden. Skrine struggled with penalties last season, and he's on the smaller side, but he was a fairly well-regarded free agent.
What it means: There's a good chance Skrine takes over the slot corner spot that was vacated when the Jets let first-round bust Kyle Wilson walk in free agency. Skrine isn't a star. But Skrine, and everybody else in the Jets' secondary, will benefit from the presence of Revis, who can expertly play man-to-man coverage and take away an opponent's top receiver.
• OG James Carpenter: He arrives from Seattle, where he had mixed results over four seasons. He is a former first-round draft pick. His Pro Football Focus ratings last year, among guards: 47th overall, 27th as a pass blocker and 62nd as a run blocker.
What it means: The Jets are moving on from aging right guard Willie Colon, a free agent. The two guys who have played left guard over the past two seasons, Brian Winters and Oday Aboushi, are both going to be third-year pros in 2015. But both remain unproven. Winters is coming off a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee last season. Between Carpenter, Winters, Aboushi and second-year pro Dakota Dozier, the Jets need to find two starters.
• CB Curtis Brown: He signed a one-year, $660,000 contract with no guaranteed money. He was out of football last season, after the Steelers released him in March. They drafted him in the third round in 2011, and he played 34 games for them over three seasons, with no starts.
What it means: He obviously isn't a No. 1 corner type, but his signing adds another body to an attrition-riddled position that desperately needs bodies. Brown was a successful special teams player in Pittsburgh, so he adds value there, as he will attempt to make the 53-man roster this spring and summer.
• DE Ronald Talley: He didn't play in the NFL last season, but Jets coach Todd Bowles knows him well, because Talley was with the Cardinals in 2013, when Bowles was their defensive coordinator. Talley entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Packers in 2009.
What it means: This is a depth signing for the Jets' defensive line. Two backups, end Leger Douzable and nose tackle Kenrick Ellis, are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents next week. If the Jets re-sign Douzable and Ellis, they probably won't need Talley. If both players sign elsewhere, Talley could be useful.
RE-SIGNINGS
• MLB David Harris: The Jets re-signed their middle linebacker, keeping him away from former coach Rex Ryan, who now leads the Bills. Harris, a 31-year-old whom the Jets drafted in the second round in 2007, got a three-year, $21.5 million contract, with $15 million guaranteed (all in the first two years). Harris was the Jets' top pending in-house free agent, and they absolutely wanted to retain him. They did.
What it means: The Jets will bring back both Harris and weak-side linebacker Demario Davis, their other inside linebacker in their 3-4 defense. The Jets still have outside linebacker/edge rusher needs. But they won't need to worry about finding a new middle linebacker in free agency, now that Harris is returning to them.
• RB Bilal Powell: Another priority re-signing for the Jets, who weren't interested in C.J. Spiller of the Bills, as it turned out. The Jets drafted Powell in the fourth round in 2011, so his rookie contract was about to expire. But like Harris, the Jets never let Powell hit free agency, re-signing him about four hours before he was going to become a free agent.
What it means: The Jets will count on Powell, their third-down/pass-protection back last year, to have a bigger role in Chan Gailey's offense in 2015. Perhaps he can be a weapon catching passes out of the backfield. Chris Ivory, a power back, is clearly the Jets' No. 1 back. But now that Chris Johnson is gone, that means more carries for Powell, as a quickness/pass-catching complement to Ivory. Powell had just 33 carries last season, after 176 in 2013 and 110 in 2012. He caught just 11 passes on 15 targets in 2014. A year earlier, he was targeted 57 times and caught 36 balls. In 2012, he was targeted 36 times and caught 17 passes. Powell has some potential. He doesn't turn 27 until October. The Jets chose him over Johnson, who is three years older than Powell and had 155 carries last year, as the Jets' No. 2 back. Now, can Powell prove them right?
