David Garrard Officially Signs With Jets

[adsenseyu1]

David Garrard officially signed his contract with the Jets on Thursday and the team was granted a two week roster exemption for Garrard. Garrard’s salary will be based on a $1 million dollar Paragraph 5 salary, the same amount that Garrard was contracted to earn prior to his retirement during the offseason. The Jets will be responsible for $588,235 in salary cap charges if Garrard is activated after the two week period.

Garrard is currently the 5th QB on the New York Jets roster joining starter Geno Smith, injured Mark Sanchez, backup Matt Simms, and 3rd stringer Brady Quinn. Quinn has yet to be activated for any game this season so it would seem likely that the Jets would release Quinn if Garrard is capable of playing.  The Jets had released Quinn prior to the first game of the year before re-signing him, thus eliminating their responsibility for full season Termination Pay.

View David Garrard’s Contract and Salary Cap Page

[subscribe2]

Reasoning Behind Jets Cutting Brady Quinn

[adsenseyu1]

ESPN’s Rich Cimini was the first to mention that the Jets intended to release Brady Quinn for financial purposes and the Jets did indeed release Quinn today as expected. I discussed this a bit on last nights podcast but here is the reason why Quinn and some others (Matthew Mulligan in New England may have been another) will be released this week.

First of all the release is not really a release. It is simply a trick designed to outsmart the CBA and clauses that were designed to protect veteran football players. Veteran players who are on the active roster as of 4PM today will have their full Paragraph 5 salary guaranteed for the season. That means if the team was to cut the player, even after just one week, they would be responsible for the entire salary assuming the player invokes his rights to termination pay (if you want to read more about termination pay just follow this link). If you sign a player after week 1 you are only responsible for 25% of the balance of his years salary, a big financial difference.

What the Jets did was give Quinn a full week of practice with the Jets to get up to speed on the playbook and familiar with the offense. He still gets paid for the week so its not as if the release costs him a penny. Its essentially the same as being de-activated. Now when he returns only 25% of his contract will be guaranteed. For the team the only concern would be if the player signed with another club in the interim. Considering Quinn was passed over by 31 other teams that would be unlikely unless the thought was that the New England Patriots were willing to use a roster spot on Quinn and guarantee his salary in return for “inside information” on their opponent for the following Thursday game.

Moves like this are common for NFL teams. The fact is teams want roster flexibility. The players who are under consideration for non-injury related inactive designations each week are often those most in danger of losing a job. You never want a player on a guaranteed deal to be hogging one of those spots because, for the most part, the players are interchangeable. They move back and forth from the Practice Squad or unemployment all the time. If you have a guaranteed deal on the books those players are not going to be capable of being moved on and off the roster. You are stuck with the salary. So it is in a team’s best interest to get those veterans off the team for week 1 and make their contracts just as flexible as the non-veteran contracts.

[subscribe2]

Mike Goodson Takes Pay Cut From Jets

[adsenseyu1]

The Jets and troubled RB Mike Goodson have agreed to a contract renegotiation. Goodson, who had a well publicized arrest earlier this spring, was absent from all of training camp when he failed to report to the team. Goodson’s failure to report to the team could have been costly if the Jets did not support his reasons for missing training camp. He could have been fined $30,000 per day as well as nearly $60,000 for each preseason game he was unavailable for. The team also could have asked him to forfeit slightly over $80,000 in signing bonus money.  This money would be on top of the four weeks of base salary and signing bonus allocation that he will be forced to surrender due to his league ordered drug suspension.

The sides appeared to come to a middle ground rather than going through any CBA related process of recovering money. Per a source with knowledge of the contract, Goodson reduced his base pay from $1 million to $715,000 in 2013, a loss of $285,000 on the season. In addition the team converted $650,000 and $850,000 of his  Paragraph 5 salary in 2014 and 2015 respectively into roster bonuses.At this time I dont know if these are per game or standard roster bonuses, but considering his situation I would opt to think they may be the per game variety.

The deal was struck prior to Goodson’s suspension from the NFL becoming official on Saturday so the suspension money was based on a $715,000 base salary rather than a $1 million dollar base salary. Under his original contract he would have lost $235,294 in salary to the drug suspension, but that number will now be reduced to $168,235, which would make the actual salary loss $217,941.

However the numbers currently on file seem to indicate an actual cash take home that reflects a six game rather than a four game suspension. Goodson’s 2013 salary cap number is currently $798,080 rather than $882,198 that the four game suspension should leave him with. Teams do have options to suspend players for conduct, such as the Raiders decision to suspend Rolando McClain last season, but I don’t know if that is the case here as there could be other cap mechanisms at play.  Just a bit of speculation on my end that I would think someone will clear up in the coming days as sometimes when there is this heavy volume of NFL transactions some numbers can get a bit mixed up in the process.

EDIT: I was informed that Goodson will lose two games to NFI status, which is where the other two lost paychecks come from in his contract renegotiation

Goodson had little option but to accept a pay cut from the Jets. With all his legal troubles no team in the NFL was going to touch him and the Jets could have fined him significantly and then cut him as soon as his league mandated suspension ended. This move likely allows the Jets to reclaim as much as they felt was reasonable after the bad PR that Goodson brought to the team this offseason.

View Mike Goodson’s Salary Cap and Contract Page

[subscribe2]

McKnight and Peterman Headline Jets Cuts

[adsenseyu1]

The New York Jets announced cuts this morning with two notable names, KR/RB Joe McKnight and G Stephen Peterman, being among those cut..

McKnight was among the cuts that seem to have caught some off guard due to his performance as a kick returner, but followers of the Jets would know that McKnight has been on thin ice since being drafted in the 4th round of the 2010 draft. McKnight battled conditioning problems early in his career with the Jets and some openly wondered if he would make the team in 2010. McKnight could never crack the offensive rotation and in 2012 was taken off the offense and moved to Cornerback in an experiment that ended rapidly.

McKnight’s champion in the organization was special teams coach Mike Westhoff who had lost his primary return, Brad Smith, man in 2011 to free agency. Westhoff had a long line of impressive kick returners with the Jets including Chad Morton, Leon Washington, Justin Miller, Smith, and finally McKnight. Westhoff retired this past season and with massive front office turnover in the organization with no ties to McKnight it was going to be difficult for him to keep his spot.

McKnight’s training camp and preseason was somewhat bizarre, again failing conditioning tests and then battling migraines and eventually a concussion. He was activated for the Jets last preseason game against the Giants but was not used as the Jets were clearly trying out other players in his return role.McKnight will carry a $125,250 dead money charge on the Jets salary cap. McKnight will be exposed to waivers where he would likely be claimed as he is only making the minimum salary, $630,000, for the season.

More surprising was the release of Peterman, who up until just a few days ago was the teams starting Guard. Peterman worked the week practicing as a backup Center with the public stance being that he was going to be used in emergencies in the event Nick Mangold was injured. The Jets started Vlad Ducasse in his place on Saturday it was assumed so Ducasse could get some work with the first unit while Peterman could work as a Center with the backups. As things turned out it may have been more of an audition for Ducasse and G Brian Winters to take the job away from Peterman.

[subscribe2]

Is Santonio Holmes Slowly Rehabbing to Prepare for Free Agency?

[adsenseyu1]

Rich Cimini of ESPN NY had this tidbit in his Sunday Notes

If you’re betting on Santonio Holmes‘ return, the smart money says he will miss the entire preseason as he continues to rehab his surgically repaired foot. So when will he come back? Holmes is such a mercurial personality that people close to the organization don’t know what to believe. Is his Lisfranc injury still healing or is he milking the injury to protect his self interests? Holmes, with a $10.75 million cap number in 2014, knows he will be released after the season. That makes this a contract year for him.

Cimini goes on to talk about some of the other opinions regarding Holmes of those close to the organization and some other thoughts on the subject. It’s certainly an interesting topic for discussion.

santonio holmesAs Cimini notes Holmes is scheduled to count for $10.75 million against the 2014 salary cap and knows he will be released. The dead money associated with releasing him is just $2.5 million so the move is a foregone conclusion.That fact brings many questions about Holmes motivation for and dedication to the 2013 NFL season.

Holmes, probably the most disappointing Jets signing of at least the last five years, would have been released this past year had he not had $7.5 million of his base salary fully guaranteed. Holmes was originally scheduled to earn $11 million in 2013, but with $3.5 million not guaranteed as well as offset provisions for the guarantee he had no choice but to accept a pay cut from the Jets.

If Holmes is in fact milking the injury and anticipates playing football in 2014 the decision to slow down his rehab would be a bad one, in my opinion. Holmes will be three years removed in 2014 from having a good season and his reputation, already poor around the NFL, took even more damage since signing his extension with the Jets. Holmes battled with teammates in 2011 and was in an altercation with his teammates in the huddle of the final game of the 2011 season, in which the Jets still had an outside chance at the playoffs. For many this is the last football memory of Holmes.

Holmes will be 30 in 2014 and if he was to sit the season out because he wanted to have his body in its best shape for free agency it would almost be the equivalent of three seasons in which he was retired from the NFL.  That is not a good combination for what will essentially be looked at as a football comeback. Holmes needs to rehab his image and also prove that he can play the game at a reasonable level to get a mid tier contract. He can not do that on the sidelines.

Playing with the Jets this season would give him a chance to rehab that image by being a good soldier on a rebuilding team that at some point will likely be starting a rookie QB. With 16 teams in the NFL starting young players Holmes needs teams to believe that he can be an aide to the young QB in the NFL to expand the list of teams willing to take a chance on him. Right now the memory of him destroying Mark Sanchez is fresh in the minds of many and those young quarterbacked teams would never consider such a personality. The Jets also have limited talent at Wide Receiver which would give him an opportunity to pad his football stats showing him to be more productive that he might be in a more talented environment. There have been many players far more talented than Holmes that could not get jobs because of the baggage that they bring on and off the field.

Attempting to protect himself from the rigors of training camp, also a suggestion from sources in Cimini’s article, would be just as bad a decision. Missing out on practice time in training camp doesn’t give him the ability to build that relationship with Geno Smith or the coaching staff, which has been overhauled and is using a completely different offensive system that may require added concentration from Holmes. Being out there practicing gives him the best chance to hit the ground running and actually be a productive player in 2013. Dogging it to miss training camp is not going to lead to a good 2013 season and at that point teams may just pass entirely. If he can’t put up numbers in an offense with no weapons why even waste the roster spot for a tryout?

Now if Holmes is truly injured then it is in the best interest of both sides for Holmes to continue his current rehab pattern. The risk of re-injury to Holmes effects both parties. If Holmes was to get re-injured his career would essentially be over. If he was to land on IR again the Jets will likely be on the hook for injury payments under the CBA’s injury protection program. If he lands on IR and the injury does not allow him to pass a physical in 2014 the Jets would have to pay him $1.05 million in 2014 and an extra injury protection payment of $525,000 in 2015.

While those numbers do not count on the salary cap (the cap treatment for such payments does not begin until 2016) the last thing the Jets want to do is pay Holmes more money. At the end of this season the Jets will have paid Holmes $24 million dollars for the last three seasons. Thus far he has accounted for just  71 receptions and 926 yards. So the Jets would not want him out there either if his foot stands a significant risk of being re-injured.

I think in some of these situations players, specifically older ones, often over-estimate their worth if they head to free agency. When Steve Breaston was released earlier this year by the Arizona Cardinals there was genuine interest by the Pittsburgh Steelers. While we don’t know what figures were discussed Breaston and his team felt that it was better to go full steam ahead into free agency where he anticipated getting a job as a number 2 receiver for another team. Breaston did not get signed until just last week, playing for the minimum salary benefit with not guarantees. With the exception of the first time free agents often times that first offer if often the best one and 90% of the time that offer is not coming back.

While Holmes does not yet have an offer he runs the risk of falling into the same trap as Breaston and so many other if he thinks he can just waltz into another decent paying opportunity based on how he produced in 2009 and 2010 and claiming full health. The reality of the NFL is that teams won’t care.

[subscribe2]

[adsenseyu2]

Ca(m)p Position Battles: Mark Sanchez vs. Geno Smith

[adsenseyu1]

2013 Cap Hit – Sanchez: $12,853,125; Smith: $912,655
Amount Remaining on Salary – Sanchez: $40,475,000 ($19,250,000 guaranteed); Smith: $5,019,603 ($3,068,784 guaranteed)

Although this will get plenty of national media coverage, the battle between New York Jets quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith for the starting job may not be the most interesting storyline to a diehard football fan. However, there is much at stake cap-wise. Mark Sanchez, much lamented for his performance as a starter in 2012 (attributed to the “butt-fumble” and beyond), still could be a viable option as a starter this year. While Rex Ryan has shown in past and present press conferences to have an inexplicable fondness for the beleaguered Sanchez, if the Jets wish, they can have him off the books by the end of the season. Why not give him a shot at the beginning of the season to attempt to recreate some of the magic from his back-to-back AFC championship game appearances (2010-2011, albeit surrounded by a more talented roster)?
The Jets can however wait on Geno Smith. Thanks to both the new CBA and Geno’s plummet to the second round in the 2013 NFL Draft, Geno has a very team-friendly contract, so the Jets can afford to let him study the game in a backup role. Additionally, contrary to the wave of young quarterbacks that have set the league on fire in the last few years (Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick and, to a lesser extent, Andy Dalton), Smith is considerably less polished coming into the league. It does not seem to be beneficial to throw him under fire amidst the circus that is the New York Jets. In my opinion, the Jets should give him time to study and observe from the sideline. For the time being, keep Sanchez on the field until it becomes unbearable (I would say at least 5 weeks). It could not go worse than it did last year. Sorry Jets fans, that’s as optimistic as I could get.

Due to the impatience of the Jets’ fan base and organization, however, Geno Smith could start as soon as Week One. Rex Ryan could be, after all, coaching for his job.

[subscribe2]

Mike Goodson and the Did Not Report List

[adsenseyu1]

Something I have been getting many questions about recently is the status of RB Mike Goodson with the New York Jets. So I figured I would give my interpretation of the situation based on my understanding of the CBA.  Goodson signed with the Jets this past offseason with and was expected to compete for the starting job with the team. Goodson received a 3 year contract worth $6.9 million dollars that included $1 million in guarantees.

Things quickly went downhill for Goodson from there after he was arrested on a number of charges after he and a friend decided to just take a break from driving in the middle of Rt. 80 in NJ, which still amazed me and likely everyone else familiar with northwest Jersey. Though Goodson faced a number of charges he did continue to work for the Jets and seemed as if he would be in training camp as he prepared for his legal battles. However, when it was time to report to camp Goodson failed to do so.

Procedurally the Jets placed Goodson on the Reserve/Did Not Report list, which means Goodson does not count towards the 90 man roster limit. Failing to report also constitutes a forfeitable breach of contract and makes the players open to fines from the team. Because Goodson was an Unrestricted Free Agent and this was his season of signing those fines are increased over a standard “holdout” player. A player failing to report is subject to fines of $30,000 per day. Because Goodson is a new signed UFA he can also be fined one weeks salary for each Preseason game he misses, which would be $58,823. That said, it is questionable as to whether the Jets can and will fine Goodson.

Initially the Jets organization said that they were well aware that Goodson would not report with the other players and that the Jets understood the situation. While none of us know what that situation is and if it’s related to legal or personal matters, the fact that the Jets claimed they understood could indicate that the absence itself is excused. If excused Goodson would not be subject to fines.

The forfeiture clause would likely still stand, though I guess it’s possible that he could claim some type of hardship beyond the legal issues. Goodson has already missed more than 11 days of camp which begins the breach process. At this point Goodson has forfeited 15% of his allocations for the year and will forfeit 1% more per day up to 25% total. Goodson’s forfeitable allocation for the year is $333,333, so he has already forfeited $50,000 of that total. If he misses the first regular season game he will forfeit 25% of his remaining forfeitable allocation. Once week 5 hits he will lose a week’s worth of bonus money for each game missed. Considering the recent tone coming from the Jets in regards to Goodson it would seem likely that he won’t play for the Jets. If he does not play he will lose all $333,333 in bonus money for the year and will also not earn his $1 million base salary.

The Jets would likely keep Goodson on the Reserve/Did Not Report List for the entire season.  If Goodson remains on the list he will be eligible to return to the active roster at any point up until the trade deadline. After that point Roger Goodell could approve his return to the team until only 30 days remain in the season. Once the 30 day period begins Goodson would officially be shelved for the season. The Jets can ask for a two week roster exemption if he decides to play again.

By maintaining his spot with this roster mechanism the Jets will retain Goodson’s rights and thus be able to continue to reclaim the bonus money they already paid him under the standard terms of the CBA.  If they released Goodson they could potentially have to go through a grievance process by which they reclaim his money.

Though not reflected on the site, Goodson’s $1 million dollar Paragraph 5 salary does not currently count towards the salary cap. The only portion of his contract that counts on the salary cap is the prorated portion of his signing bonus. When and if he reports his $1 million dollar P5 will go back onto the salary cap. Any forfeiture money will be credited to the Jets books the following season, so if he fails to play in 2013 the Jets will receive an upward cap adjustment of $333,333 in 2014 to reflect the forfeiture from 2013.

Last season G Brian Waters sat out the entire season with the New England Patriots. Waters was in the second year of his contract with New England and seemed to dispute his salary and agreement with the Patriots. The feeling was he wanted to go play closer to home in Houston. Because 2012 was the final season of Waters contract his contract tolled and the Patriots maintained his rights in 2013. New England chose to release him this offseason rather than going through the headache of maintaining him on the roster. New England had no money to reclaim so it was an easy decision to make.

View Mike Goodson’s Salary Cap and Contract Page

[subscribe2]