Jets Breaking News: How Does Laken Tomlinson’s Release Affect the Franchise’s Salary Cap?

The New York Jets have a total of 5 picks in the upcoming draft and they are looking to make the most bag out of their buck. The franchise needs a total overhaul, and that’s exactly what the team is doing. Amidst the upcoming trade season, a lot of hiring and firing is going on, and it doesn’t look good for their guard, Laken Tomlinson.

The team portrayed a dismal performance throughout the 2023 season; however, that got them closer to picking the best possible talent. However, to do that they have to save some cap space to compensate for the up-and-coming talent on their roster. The Jets don’t have a lot of funds to spare right now and will have to make wise choices going forward.

Goodbye Laken Tomlinson

Per the latest news, the New York Jets have decided to part ways with veteran guard Laken Tomlinson. According to Dov Kleiman’s post on X, this move by the Jets will help them save $8 million in cap space, which they can use to hire appropriate talent to support Aaron Rodgers. Maybe the new hire would be another QB, or maybe a receiver. It’s all smoke and mirrors right now.

But what’s not an illusion is the money that the Jets will save with this barter. According to Spotrac, the Jets rank 18th in terms of salary cap space. They are operating on a cap space of $28,578,767. Releasing Tomlinson would bring that mark to about $36.5 million. Tomlinson signed a 3-year, $40 million deal with the Jets in 2022 and was supposed to get $12,600,000 as a base salary in 2024.

Now he’s being cut from the roster, and it might come as good news for the New York Jets. However, there are a couple of scenarios to be kept in mind in the wake of this decision.

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What Lake Tomlinson will leave the Jets with

Over The Cap dissects Tomlinson’s situation perfectly. If the Jets cut him before June 1, they will be left with $10,740,000 as total dead money and $8,140,000 as cap savings. However, the scenario would be different if the Jets had taken their time in releasing the guard. If the Jets had released him post-June 1, they would have been left with $5,880,000 in dead money and $13,000,000 in cap savings.

The scenario for trading is exactly the same, with the only difference being that the Jets could have negotiated for a better draft pick in Tomlinson’s exchange. But they have already released him, and Tomlinson’s future seems uncertain at the moment. A couple of sources say that Tomlinson had this coming for a few reasons, and one of them was his performance. He led all the guards with 51 pressures allowed, so the Jets pressured him in the end.

What do you think about the New York Jets’ strategies? Let us know in the comments below.

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