Salary Cap: Where do the Jets stand after rookie signings?

Three weeks ago we asked if the Jets could afford to sign their rookies. The answer, as always, was a resounding yes.

The Jets have now signed all of their draft picks apart from Malachi Corley and a total of 22 undrafted rookies, although two have already been released.

Here's where they currently stand:

The NFLPA database currently has the Jets at $9,380,432 in available cap space.

However, that's before accounting for Olu Fashanu's contract, which uses up just under $3 million of cap space. This agrees with the number calculated by OverTheCap.com who have the Jets at $6.4 million.

While teams often like to leave a buffer so they have the cap space to replace people who land on injured reserve during the season or to facilitate midseason trades, the Jets still have some flexibility to create more cap room if they need it.

Once Corley is signed, this will have a minimal effect on the cap position, probably only using up $200K or thereabouts. The rest of the rookies aren't currently in the top 51 in terms of their cap hits, so any that make the team will actually improve the Jets' cap position by ousting someone with a higher hit from the top 53.

The other interesting update we can give is in respect of the undrafted rookies and their own contracts (again from OTC):

  • Eric Watts $225K guaranteed salary and $20K signing bonus
  • Braiden McGregor $200K guaranteed salary and $20K signing bonus
  • Jarius Monroe $115K guaranteed salary and $10K signing bonus
  • Leonard Taylor III and Jimmy Ciarlo $100K guaranteed salary and $10K signing bonus
  • Shemar Bartholemew $95K guaranteed salary and $10K signing bonus
  • Al Blades $90K guaranteed salary and $10K signing bonus
  • Tyreek Johnson $45K guaranteed salary and $5K signing bonus
  • Brady Latham $40K guaranteed salary and $7.5K signing bonus
  • Tyler Harrell $20K guaranteed salary and $5K signing bonus
  • Marcus Riley $10K guaranteed salary and $5K signing bonus
  • Lincoln Sefcik $7.5K guaranteed salary and $5K signing bonus
  • Willie Tyler $0K guaranteed salary and $5K signing bonus
  • Myles Jones $2.5K guaranteed salary and $1K signing bonus
  • Jackson Sirmon $0K guaranteed salary and $2.5K signing bonus

The five undrafted rookies added since rookie mini-camp are currently listed as each having no signing bonus or guarantees but we will let you know if that's updated later.

Interestingly, Jaylen Key - despite being actually drafted - is in some regards worse off than most of these players. While he did get a four year deal and a signing bonus of just over $60K which is obviously better than anyone on this list, none of the rest of his contract is guaranteed.

That means that seven of the undrafted rookies will have more guarantees than he does. However, the Jets may well have promised him at least a practice squad spot, which would vault him back to the top of the list in terms of effective guarantees, albeit not necessarily binding. The practice squad salary for a full season would be about $300K.

Every other draft pick is obviously better off than all the undrafted rookies, although in Qwan'tez Stiggers' case, his total guarantee is only about $10K more than Watts despite being a fifth round pick. He did, however, get all of his guaranteed money in the form of an up-front bonus, though, and likely has similar assurances about a spot for him on the roster or practice squad.