Jets Must Be Aggressive in Free Agency in 2026
The New York Jets must be aggressive when it comes to signing free agents in 2026, even if that means overpaying — which is typical in free agency anyway.
Growth is the word of the NFL calendar year for the New York Jets in 2026-27, which begins at 4 PM Eastern on March 11. They must show they’re moving in the right direction in 2026. That doesn’t necessarily mean making the playoffs, which is unlikely, unless many things go right.
Many people will say, “Build through the draft, not free agency.” While that is a good core tenet, that doesn’t actually work because there are too few draft picks.
The Jets are going to have to do what they can to land free agents. According to Matt Lombardo, one agent believes the Jets can do just that.
According to the agent,
But, that can also breed opportunity. For a veteran towards the end of the career who wants to win now, sure, it’s a tougher sell. But, I’ll assure you the Jets will still get guys and good players.
Another agent said,
The Jets aren’t as attractive a destination right now, but the money they have this offseason can offset a lot of that.
To paraphrase the two, the Jets do have a chance to land free agents if they pursue them, and that money talks.
Right now, if you factor in the following roster cuts: Justin Fields, Braiden McGregor, Tyler Baron, Gus Hartwig, Tre Brown, Christopher Smith, Eric Watts, Keidron Smith, Jarius Monroe, Dean Clark, Jordan Clark, Brady Cook, Payton Page, Marquis Hayes, and Quentin Skinner, the Jets would have $107,350,360 in cap space some of which does needs to be saved as an in-season buffer.
They will need to save some of that cap space for the following:
Draft picks who make the 53-man roster
Draft picks and UDFA with guarantees that don’t make the 53-man roster
Veteran free agents with dead money that don’t make the 53-man roster
In-season moves
A reasonable conservative buffer would be $30 million to cover all of this. That means they can allocate $77,350,360 to free agency spending.
That’s plenty of cap space to be aggressive and target some top players — just to name a few: Breece Hall, Tyler Linderbaum, Isaiah Likely, Quay Walker.
The Jets will have the cap space to make moves. It’s up to Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn to convince players to come here and that their plan will work. Time will tell if they can, and if they can’t, the Jets will be looking for a new head coach in 2027, and possibly a new GM.