NFLPA passes new CBA: How it impacts the New York Jets

No work stoppage for the NFL in the foreseeable future with reports on Sunday saying that the NFLPA has passed the proposed CBA. There will be labor peace in the NFL for the next decade and no stoppage in football.

Hopefully, COVID-19 obliges.

The CBA passed, with just 51.5% of all players voting in favor. The new deal guarantees labor peace, along with a slew of other changes, some major and some minor, for the league. Jets players for the most part were quite on social media about the passing, which came by a mere 60-vote difference.

The silence is likely out of respect between both sides after what was a contentious and controversial vote.

The changes under the new CBA are well known.

There will be one more regular season game, bringing the total to 17 games. Preseason will be reduced from four games to three games. Rosters will increase slightly, practice squad sizes will increase, minimum salaries will go up as will the salary cap as a whole (even if the uptick in the salary cap is smaller than expected for the 2020 season).

The Jets head into free agency now with a salary cap set by the league under the new CBA of $198.2 million. That is a $10 million increase over 2018 but it is less than the roughly $200 million that was expected by most around the league.

Heading into free agency, the Jets were middle of the pack in terms of cap space, with an expected $53 million in space under the cap. This small change downward cuts into the Jets ability to spend and perhaps overspend to land at positions of need, but it isn’t a drastic difference that will radically impact their ability to sign and re-sign players. This means that the Jets, if they move forward with the expected cuts of players such as cornerback Trumaine Johnson, enter free agency with around $50 million in salary cap space.

The Jets will also be impacted by minimum salaries increasing, which should affect them roughly $3 million according to Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com. This could and should further cut into their ability to pursue free agents.

The new rules regarding the use of the transition tag and the franchise tag- teams can only use on designation this offseason - likely don't affect the Jets, who didn't appear likely to utilize either mechanism this offseason.