How Recent Jets Trades Impact the 2025-26 Cap Situation
The New York Jets have made the following trades in recent days
Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts for Adonai Mitchell, the Colts 2026 first-round pick, and the Colts 2027 first-round pick
Quinnen Williams to the Dallas Cowboys for Mazi Smith, 2026 second-round pick, and 2027 first-round pick
Michael Carter II and a 2027 seventh-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for John Metchie II and a 2027 sixth-round pick
Now that the trade deadline has passed, let’s take a quick look at the particulars from all the trades from a cap perspective.
Michael Carter II
2025 base salary paid: $754,444
2025 prorated signing bonus: $1.2 million
2025 prorated option bonus: $800k
Paid per-game roster bonus: $154,559
Original Cap Charge: $4,120,000
2026 prorated signing bonus (accelerated): -$3.6 million
2026 prorated option bonus (accelerated): -$3.2 million
Original 2026 cap charge: $12,250,000
Total Savings: $6,660,997
Sauce Gardner
2025 P5 salary paid: $555,556
2025 Prorated Signing Bonus (including rookie deal): $8,126,963
Total dead for 2025: $8,682,519
Original Cap Charge: $9,376,963
Total 2025 Savings: $625,000
2026 Original Cap Number: $12.25 million
2026 Dead Cap Charge: $11 million
Total 2025-26 savings for Sauce Garnder: $1.875 million
Quinnen Williams
2025 base salary paid: $7,825,000
2025 prorated signing bonus: $4.9 million
Paid per-game roster bonus: $517,647
Original Cap Charge: $21,585,294
2026 prorated signing bonus (accelerated): $9.8 million
Original 2026 cap charge: $26,650,000
Total 2025-26 Savings: $25,192,646
Adonai Mitchell
2025 base salary remaining: $565,366
2026 base salary: $1,130,731
Total for 2025-26: $1,696,097
Mazi Smith
2025 base salary remaining: $978,395
2026 base salary: $2,560,185
Total for 2025-26: $3,538,580
John Metchie II
2025 base salary remaining: $1,003,043
The total net cap gain for the Jets in 2025-26 is $27,490,923. With the Jets in a rebuild, this is very important. According to the NFLPA Public Salary Cap Report, the Jets have $18,559,743 in cap space left in the 2025-26 NFL calendar year. That means, as of the writing of this piece, I can project that they will have $95,688,418 in total cap space for the entire 2026-27 calendar year.
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