As the Jets players contemplate what went wrong Sunday in Buffalo to end their season, the front office and coaches need to start thinking about 2016.
General manager Mike Maccagnan had a successful first offseason, landing big free agents and pulling off trades for Brandon Marshall and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Now, we’ll see what he can do for an encore.
Maccagnan won’t have as much money to spend this year, and he is down a draft pick after last year’s Fitzpatrick trade. The GM faces some big decisions. Here is a look at five key areas he must figure out:
1. Do you re-sign Muhammad Wilkerson?
This question has been hanging over the Jets for the last few years, and the Jets GMs — Maccagnan and John Idzik before him — have kept kicking the can down the road. The Jets can get away with that for one more year if Maccagnan uses the franchise tag (about $16 million) on Wilkerson, which seems likely.
Wilkerson had a monster season with 12 sacks to go along with 45 quarterback hurries and 39 stops (solo tackles that constitute an offensive failure), according to Pro Football Focus. He broke his leg in Sunday’s loss, but that should not affect his value. It is an injury players fully recover from.
The biggest question here is what kind of contract will get it done. The two sides stopped talking at the beginning of the season and were never close before that. I think Wilkerson is worth a deal similar to Bills tackle Marcell Dareus, who got a six-year, $95.1 million contract with $42.9 million fully guaranteed at the beginning of the 2015 season.
2. What is Ryan Fitzpatrick worth?
The quarterback had a great year for the Jets, throwing 31 touchdown passes, a new franchise record. He is a free agent, but the Jets want him back and he wants to return. The tricky part is the contract.
Fitzpatrick is 33, and this season was an outlier if you look at his career numbers. Was it an aberration or a sign of a mature quarterback with better receivers?
I lean toward the latter, but would be cautious. If I’m Maccagnan, I’d offer him a three-year, $30 million deal with $15 million guaranteed in the first two years. If it takes a little more guaranteed money to get the deal done, do it. If he stumbles in 2016 or ’17, you cut him before 2018.
3. Clear some salary-cap space
This is not like last year when the Jets had $50 million in cap space. They are projected to have about $16 million to $18 million in cap space at the moment. If you franchise Wilkerson, that is basically your entire spending. So Maccagnan must find some room.
Start by renegotiating tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson’s contract. Ferguson’s cap number is $14 million in 2016. He is still a serviceable left tackle, but no longer one of the best in the league. Ferguson needs to take a pay cut. If you can get him for $7 million to $8 million per year with guaranteed money for just two years, that would work.
Cutting cornerback Antonio Cromartie would save $8 million. You can also cut wide receiver Jeremy Kerley and tight end Jeff Cumberland, who barely played this year, for another $3.2 million in space. That would leave you with about $35 million in space to use.
4. Add some speed on the edge
The Jets’ defense needs speed on the outside. Maccagnan might have to get creative here because finding an edge rusher in the draft is tricky. It is a difficult position to project and a good one will be hard to find at the No. 20 pick. The top ones in free agency may be too pricey. Maybe Magic Mike can swing another trade.
5. Regroup at running back
Chris Ivory, Bilal Powell and Stevan Ridley are all free agents. Do you bring any of them back? I would try to re-sign Powell if he is willing to take just a slight raise from his $2 million salary this year. I think the Jets got the most they could out of Ivory and it’s time to move on. This is a position that needs to be addressed in the draft. The Jets need a young, cheap player to man this position.