Of interest to the offensive line-needy New York Jets, ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported that guards, specifically, could do well in free agency with their market on the rise.
Graziano mentions Kevin Dotson’s recent deal with the Los Angeles Rams as a contract that “opened a lot of eyes” around the league. Dotson earned $16 million per year, which was “much higher” than anticipated.
Graziano adds that other top free agent guards hope that Dotson’s deal helped raise their ceiling.
Without question, addressing the offensive line is priority No. 1 for Joe Douglas this offseason. At the moment, the only starting-caliber players on the roster are Alijah Vera-Tucker and Joe Tippmann.
While, of course, having Aaron Rodgers back in the mix will drastically shift how this Jets’ offense looks, its ceiling will likely be determined by how well the offensive line plays. In short, can they give Rodgers time and keep him upright?
Last season, the 188 pressures that the Jets surrendered were the second-most in football, and the 64 sacks given up were the fourth-most.
So, with three starting spots on the offensive line open and unaccounted for, Douglas has quite a bit of work to do. And in order to give himself the most options in the draft, there needs to be some urgency in how the Jets tackle the offensive line in free agency.
With Vera-Tucker, who can play four positions and do so well, as Douglas said the NFL Combine, and even Tippman, who can play center or guard, the Jets have some flexibility in who they bring in because they have the ability to move either Vera-Tucker or Tippman around if needed.
“It’s a lot of pieces,” said Douglas of the holes on the offensive line, “but we just had some unbelievable meetings with our coaching staff, free agent meetings. We feel like there’s three different avenues we can do this: there’s trade, free agency, and draft.
“So going through where we are, the meetings we just went through, the flexibility of AVT, I feel like there’s some guys that can come in and be the right type of fit for us, in terms of the intelligence, the reliability, there’s some good candidates out there that can come in and help us.”
Some of the top available free-agent names at the guard position that Graziano mentioned include John Simpson, Robert Hunt, Jonah Jackson, and Kevin Zeitler. Another name to know is Jon Runyan, who played with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay for three seasons.
Below, PFF projected what each of those players’ new contracts could look like:
Robert Hunt: 4 years – $17.5 million per year
Kevin Zeitler: 2 years – $7.5 million per year
Jon Runyan: 3 years – $6.67 million per year
Jonah Jackson: 3 years – $10.25 million per year
John Simpson: 2 years – $5.25 million per year
Salary cap-wise, the New York Jets do have some spending power, with $20.7 million in available cap space, according to Over the Cap. However, that figure does rank in the bottom half of the NFL (18th overall) in terms of available cap space.
More than likely, additional cap space is going to have to be created by the Jets, not only to help them be more active in free agency but to account for additional cap costs coming down the road, such as signing the 2024 draft class. For more on the Jets’ salary cap situation, click here.
The Jets are positioned to make some impact additions in free agency, but it’s not only the guard position that they have to address at some point this offseason. Offensive tackle, wide receiver, and safety are all big needs as well.
If the guard market does play out as Graziano mentions, with higher paydays than expected, that does impact the Jets who are likely exploring additions at that position group.
If they do spend money there and bring in a top free-agent option, how does that impact what they are able to spend elsewhere? Or does the market keep them from spending big at this position group so they have more salary cap flexibility?
