Salary Cap Primer: Where The Jets Stand After The Draft

The New York Jets are in a strange situation for them. They need salary cap space, and they can make it. Three prime candidates to help them out are Quinnen Williams (restructure), Haason Reddick, and D.J. Reed (contract extensions).

Let’s dive into the cap situation for the Jets.

Salary Cap Primer: Where the Jets Stand After the Draft

Cap components of a contract

Let’s look at one contract:

Aaron Rodgers

The base salary (or what he will make for playing) is $1,838,888. When he was traded to the Jets, he re-worked his deal, and that included a $35 million signing bonus. That gets prorated over the length of his contract, and as a result, $7 million will count this season. He also has a workout bonus of $50,000, bringing his total cap chargers to $8,888,888.

What is the Salary Cap?

The cap is the maximum amount of money the roster can cost a team for a given season. Everyone begins at the same number, but there are things that help a team gain cap space. The initial cap for 2024 is $255.4 million.

Rollover/Adjustments

Any unused cap from the previous season can be rolled over into the next season.

Incentives are broken into two categories: likely to be earned, and not likely to be earned. LTBE counts against the cap for the year in question, and NLTBE doesn’t. Unearned LTBE incentives are credited back to teams, and earned NLTBE incentives are taken away the following season.

According to Over the Cap, the Jets cap number stands at $260,174,058.

Who counts against the Cap?

When the season begins, each team will have a 53-man roster. All 53 count against the cap (during the offseason, only the top 51 salaries count). The 16-man (maximum) practice squad and any player on injured reserve or PUP count as well.

Practice squad weekly salaries:

0-2 accrued seasons: $12,500

3+ accrued seasons: $16,800 – $21,300

Up to 10 players can make $12,500 per week, and up to six can make $16,800 – $21,300. Practice squad players get paid for all 18 weeks during the regular season. That means the maximum total salary at the beginning of the season is $4,550,400. If a practice squad player gets elevated, he counts against the cap for the league minimum, until he’s released.

Dead cap

Since a player’s signing bonus is prorated, when that player is released (or traded) the prorated signing bonus is accelerated. That counts as “dead cap” because the player is no longer on the roster.