Huff Leaves, Jets Sign 3 Players

Edition #590

Good morning!

At one point I thought Joe Douglas may have forgotten to set his alarm. The first few hours of free agency passed with little incident for the Jets. Then as the clock ticked towards midnight we saw a flurry of moves, with the Jets signing three players all in a position of need. We’re going to look at all three players and hope that the Jets have more up their sleeve for day two.

I’m sending this nice and early today before another busy day of free agent activity…hopefully. Tyron Smith, Calvin Ridley, Marquise Brown, Trent Brown, Kevin Zeitler, Tyer Boyd and many more are still out there.

Don’t forget that to join the chat throughout the day, you can download the Substack App.

Bryce Huff signs a 3-year $51.1 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, $34 million guaranteed.

I think we were all expecting this and according to reports, Huff had a robust market with the Giants and Commanders also showing significant interest, but it was the Eagles who made the biggest splash (and they made a few more after as well).

First of all, I’m thrilled for Huff. The guy worked his tail off to go from being a UDFA to getting paid an average annual salary of $17 million. He outperformed his deal and didn’t complain once, no he’s getting rewarded.

It’s not every day that a player who had double-digit sacks in just 334 pass-rush snaps, who’s not even hit his prime yet and who had a higher pass-rush win rate than Nick Bosa hits the open market. Eagles jumped on it and I personally think Huff is set to continue his ascendency.

But this one is going to sting the Jets.

We’ve been looking for a capable speed rusher ever since John Abraham took his talents to Atlanta back in 2006. We found one and developed one, and then we let him leave.

The Jets couldn’t really afford to pay Huff $17 million a year, but it should never have gotten to this point. Halfway through the 2022 season, it became clear that Huff was an incredibly talented player with bags of potential as a pass-rusher. The Jets needed to proactively sign him at that point, or after the season.

If the Jets knew they couldn’t sign him long-term they should have traded him to recoup some draft capital. Now it’s estimated that the Jets may get a 4th round compensation pick next year, but as a win-now team with plenty of holes, they could have received more by trading him mid-season.

Good luck to Bryce in Philadelphia, but this is real mismanagement by the Jets front office.

Tyrod Taylor signs with the Jets for 2-years and up to $18 million