NFL free agency is about to get very loud. The question for Jets fans is how much noise general manager Joe Douglas will make.
The scouting combine is next week in Indianapolis, and that is when the NFL’s hot stove heats up. Free agency is coming in three weeks, and the Jets have holes to fill, but it will be interesting how aggressive Douglas is.
Douglas and coach Robert Saleh are on the hottest of hot seats and need to be all-in for 2024. There is no more talking about improvement or being a young team. This season is playoffs-or-bust. Team owner Woody Johnson said as much a few days before the Super Bowl.
But there is an interesting financial element for the Jets that not many people are talking about. Douglas nailed the 2022 draft, taking Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson and Breece Hall with his first four picks. Those four players could be the core of the team for years to come … if the Jets can pay them.
All of those players will be eligible for a contract extension after the 2024 season. The CBA says players on their rookie contracts cannot get extensions until after their third season. That means the bill is about to come due for those players taken in 2022. It is the only negative to nailing a draft class: There are going to be some hefty contracts coming up.
Douglas has to keep this in his mind as he negotiates this year’s free-agent class. Though fans and media will focus on the salary-cap space he has in 2024, Douglas also must leave some room to get those extensions done in 2025 and 2026.
You might argue he should not be worrying about anything beyond this year because his job is on the line, but that is not the way NFL front offices operate. Douglas and his staff have to look at what is coming in the next few years.
The Jets might be able to put off extensions for Johnson and Hall. Johnson emerged in 2023, but he still needs to string some more seasons together, and the Jets can exercise his fifth-year option next year to keep him under contract through 2026.
Hall is a running back. If you’ve been paying attention to the Giants and Saquon Barkley, you know running backs rarely get the contracts they are looking for. The Jets could push Hall off until 2026, but, as a second-round pick, he will be scheduled to hit free agency that year, so there is some risk.
When it comes to Gardner and Wilson, the Jets should pay up next year and get them locked up early before the prices at those positions go even higher. I think it is clear through their first two seasons that these two are keepers and ones you want to have in your organization for a long, long time.
Neither player is going to come cheap, so Douglas is going to have to plan for that when he considers how much money to spend in the coming weeks.
This situation adds another layer to how disappointing the 2023 season and Aaron Rodgers’ injury was. The Jets basically wasted a year with the 2022 draft class on their rookie deals. Both Gardner and Wilson had a salary of $870,000 last season, a bargain that won’t last long. They will get another year out of it in 2024, but those two will be looking for a raise in 2025.
The contracts that Gardner and Wilson, and possibly Hall and Johnson, will be seeking in 2025 are a backdrop to 2024 free agency for the team.
Douglas may have to get creative with the contracts he hands out in free agency this year with those contract extensions for his young stars looming not too far away.
The pressure is on Douglas to get it right in 2024. But he can’t screw up 2025 and beyond in the process.
