Here’s What the 53 Man Roster Could Look Like!

The following scenario takes into account the expected 2015 $142 Million Salary Cap (adjusted to almost $155 Million when taking into account 2014 rollover), possible trades, free agent acquisitions, free agent resignings and the draft.

Maneuvering in the Draft:

These moves assume four things – all of which are quite possible but probably unlikely that all four things break our way.  In no particular order, they are: 1) Marcus Mariota will still be on the board after the first 5 selections in the draft, 2) only one WR will be selected in the first 10 picks of the draft, 3) Chip Kelly is ready to back up his professed love of Mariota, 4) the Vikings focus on drafting a RB in the first round and believe that either Gordon or Gurley will be available with the 20th pick.

As you may have surmised from these assumptions, I’m suggesting two moves (one with the Eagles and one with Vikings) to move back to the 11th overall pick and select either Amari Cooper or Kevin White.  Specifically, I would have the Jets trade their 6th overall pick to the Eagles for their 1st (20th overall) and 2nd (52nd overall) round picks this year, their 1st round pick in 2016 and Nick Foles.  This is a steep price to pay for one player but getting from 20th to 6th is a lot of ground to cover and if Chip really believes Mariota is his franchise guy, then anything is possible.  Adding in Nick Foles to the trade shouldn’t be that big a deal since the acquisition of Mariota would make Foles expendable.

The second trade would be with the Vikings.  I would love to see the Jets land an elite WR in this draft.  In my opinion (and most analyst’s), there are two: Amari Cooper and Kevin White.  The Raiders will likely pick one of them with their 4th overall pick.  I’m hoping the ghost of Al Davis is honored and they pick the speed of Kevin White.  While White has a higher ceiling, I love Cooper’s reliability and route running.  The next team likely to pick a WR is the Browns with their 12th pick.  With Adrian Peterson likely not returning to the Vikings, there’s a good chance the Vikings will target a RB in the first round.  There’s also a good chance that one or both of the elite RB’s will still be on the board with the 20th selection.  Consequently, the Jets could trade their 1st round pick, (20th overall acquired from the Eagles), one of their 2nd round picks (52nd overall acquired from the Eagles) and their 4th round pick (101st overall) to the Vikings for the Vikings 1st round pick (11the overall) and their 4th round pick (107th overall).  This trade is consistent with the Trade Value Chart (Jets giving up 1,330 value points in exchange for 1,326).  With these moves, in aggregate, the Jets would basically get Nick Foles and an additional 1st round draft pick in next year’s draft in exchange for moving back 5 picks in both the 1st and 4th rounds.  If we were still able to secure a top WR with the 11th pick, this would be a huge coup!

Going through the roster now, position by position, I’ll show whose under contract, who we should trade for, draft, sign in free agency and release.

QB

• Under Contract – Geno Smith
• Trade  – acquire Nick Foles
• Free Agent Signing – target adding Ryan Mallett (if he’s not available, resign Matt Simms)
• Note: do not resign Michael Vick

RB

• Under Contract – Chris Ivory
• Free Agent Signing – resign Bilal Powell; target adding C.J. Spiller
• Note: Chris Johnson was already released; keep Daryl Richardson on the practice squad

FB

• Under Contract – Tommy Bohanon
• Free Agent Signing – resign John Conner and have the two compete in training camp for the lone FB roster spot

WR

• Under Contract – Eric Decker, Jeremy Kerley and Shaq Evans
• Draft – Round 1 Amari Cooper (or Kevin White); Round 5 Chris Conley
• Free Agent Signing – resign Chris Owusu; target Jeremy Maclin
• Note: release Percy Harvin; allow T.J. Graham, Walter Powell, Saalim Hakim, and Quincy Enunwa to compete in camp with Shaq Evans and Chris Owusu for the 6th WR roster spot; don’t resign Greg Salas

TE

• Under Contract – Jeff Cumberland and Jace Amaro
• Draft – Round 4 Tyler Kroft
• Free Agent Signing – target Jordan Cameron
• Note: release Chris Pantale and Zach Sudfeld

Interior OL

• Under Contract: Nick Mangold, Oday Aboushi, Dakota Dozier and Brian Winters
• Free Agent Signing – target Mike Iupati
• Note: don’t resign Willie Colon; release Dalton Freeman and Wesley Johnson

OT

• Under Contract: D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Breno Giacomini
• Draft: Round 7 D.J. Humphries
• Free Agent Signing – resign Ben Ijalana

DE/DT

• Under Contract: Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson and T.J. Barnes
• Free Agent Signing – resign Leger Douzable

NT

• Free Agent Signing – resign Damon Harrison and Kenrick Ellis

OLB

• Under Contract: Quinton Coples, Ikemefuna Enemkpali and Trevor Reilly
• Free Agent Signing – target Justin Houston (in the likely case that he will be franchised, then target Jerry Hughes)
• Note: don’t resign Jermaine Cunningham, release Calvin Pace and Jason Babin

ILB

• Under Contract: Demario Davis
• Draft: Round 2 Eric Kendricks
• Free Agent Signing – resign David Harris and Nick Bellore

CB

• Under Contract: Marcus Williams, Darrin Walls, Dexter McDougle and Dee Milliner
• Draft: Round 3 Jalen Collins
• Free Agent Signing – target 2 of the following CB’s (in order of preference): Darrelle Revis, Kareem Jackson, Antonio Cromartie, Byron Maxwell
• Note: don’t resign Phillip Adams or Kyle Wilson; if Dee Milliner is healthy, allow Marcus Williams and Darrin Walls to compete for the 6th CB roster spot (and buy a lottery ticket)

S

• Under Contract: Calvin Pryor, Antonio Allen and Rontez Miles
• Free Agent Signing – resign Jaiquawn Jarrett
• Note: don’t resign Dawan Landry

Special Teams

• Under Contract: Nick Folk, Ryan Quigley
• Free Agent Signing – resign Tanner Purdum
• Note: invite punters to camp to compete for Ryan Quigley’s roster spot

Going through the roster now, by mode of acquisition, I’ll prioritize the different acquisitions.

By Trade:

• Nick Foles

Free Agents from other Teams:

• High
  • Mike Iupati
  • Justin Houston/Jerry Hughes
  • Darrelle Revis/Kareem Jackson
• Medium
  • Jeremy Maclin
  • C.J. Spiller
  • Jordan Cameron
• Low
  • Kareem Jackson/Antonio Cromartie/Byron Maxwell
  • Ryan Mallett

Note: Taking into account the available cap space and the cap space freed up from the players I’ve suggested releasing, there should be enough room to sign the above free agents with the exception of the unlikely scenario that both Justin Houston and Darrelle Revis are in play.  It is almost a given that Justin Houston will get the franchise tag if a long-term deal is not reached and I also believe that the Patriots will be willing to pay Revis’ king’s ransom to make another run at the Lombardi before Tom rides off into the deflating sun.

Resigning Our Free Agents:

• High
  • Damon Harrison
• Medium
  • Bilal Powell
  • David Harris (High if we do not draft Eric Kendricks)
  • Leger Douzable
  • Kenrick Ellis
  • Jaiquawn Jarrett
  • Nick Bellore
• Low
  • Chris Owusu
  • Ben Ijalana
  • Tanner Purdum
  • John Conner

Daft:

• Round 1
  • Amari Cooper, WR (alternatively Kevin White, WR)
• Round 2
  • Eric Kendricks, ILB
• Round 3
  • Jalen Collins, CB
• Round 4
  • Tyler Kroft, TE
• Round 5
  • Chris Conley, WR
• Round 7
  • D.J. Humphries, OT

So here is the blue print Mike Maccagnan.  What do you think?