Jets Expected to Lose $33 Million Starter, Bidding War Looming

Heavy on Jets

The New York Jets and D.J. Reed are expected to go their separate ways this offseason.

ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler said it would be a “mild surprise” if Reed re-signed with the Jets ahead of free agency. Reed is in the last year of his $33 million contract and is set to hit the open market in March of 2025.

“His market will be robust, the franchise tag for corners will be more than $20 million, and the Jets have Sauce Gardner to eventually pay. Complicating matters is whether general manager Joe Douglas, who is in the last year of his contract, will be back in 2025. Reed smartly signed a three-year deal with New York in 2022, giving him another crack at free agency at age 28,” Fowler said in a column posted on Wednesday, November 13.

Fowler ranked him as the top cornerback that’ll be available and the No. 4 overall best free agent on the market in 2025.

Jets Likely to Reinvest Their Resources in Other Positional Groups

Gardner is eligible to discuss a new long-term deal when the 2024 regular season comes to its conclusion.

According to Spotrac’s calculated market value, Gardner projects to sign a three-year deal for $55.8 million. That $18.6 million annual salary would place him No. 12 among the highest-paid corners in football, per Over The Cap.

Candidly that figure seems to be overreactionary to what has transpired this season. Gardner was a first-team All-Pro through his first two seasons but he hasn’t played at that level in 2024.

Before the season started it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Gardner, when he was eligible for a new deal, would become the highest-paid corner in football. After 10 uneven weeks into his third season, the projections have been dramatically affected by his recent play.

Regardless of how much scratch it’ll ultimately be, it’s going to be a massive number.

Just ahead of the 2024 season, the Jets gave Michael Carter II a brand new $30.75 million deal that made him the highest-paid nickel corner in the NFL.

That is a lot of money invested at one position.

Reed, 28, is going to get a bag in free agency. He is still relatively young and he is having a great season.

According to Pro Football Focus, he is the No. 9 overall ranked cornerback in the NFL this season (79.1).

The Jets Missed a Golden Opportunity to Get Some Value

Reed potentially not re-signing with the Jets this upcoming offseason isn’t breaking news. Most fans resigned to the fact that was going to happen based on what else the team was going to do in the cornerback room.

However, with that being a very possible result, why didn’t the Jets trade Reed ahead of the NFL trade deadline?

The Washington Commanders called the Jets about trading for Reed, but according to NFL Insider Dianna Russini of The Athletic, they said he wasn’t available.

After being told no by the Jets, the Commanders pivoted to a different option. Washington ended up trading away a 2025 third, a 2025 fourth, and a 2025 sixth-rounder to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for veteran cornerback Marshon Lattimore and a 2025 fifth-rounder.

That would have been quite the haul for the Jets. Connor Hughes of SNY said the Jets could have gotten a future third-rounder for Reed if they had decided to move him.

Instead, New York stood pat and held onto Reed.

Their only hope to get value is to allow him to leave as an unrestricted free agent, land a big money deal with another team, and hope they get a future compensatory pick in 2026 for their loss.