The New York Jets could be proactive with one of their key players.
Joe Caporoso of “Badlands” recently predicted that the green and white would give a contract extension to offensive lineman John Simpson in the middle of the 2025 campaign.
“I’m going to say yes because of the style of player that he is,” Caporoso said. “With Simpson, I think something has clicked with him at this stage of his career. I think he is a tone setter on the offensive line for the style of football this regime is going to want to play. I feel like the contract mechanics are a little more straight forward with him. If he starts off the season playing like he did last season, I can see the Jets being like, let’s do this now before his price goes up [another] $4 million to $6 million per year. For him as a guy who was almost out of the league being like I’ll take the three years right now.”
Simpson, 27, will turn 28 before the start of the 2025 season. He is entering the last year of his $12 million contract.
“I like that call, I agree completely with you, I think this is the one where it makes sense the most for both sides. Maybe Simpson wants some stability here,” NBC analyst Connor Rogers speculated on “Badlands.” “Maybe, hopefully, we hope as fans that he wants to be here for awhile and it makes sense and the Jets pony up an offer that is fair to him to the level of player he has become. I say yes [they will extend him mid-season].”
Weighing the Pros and Cons of Vera-Tucker Versus Simpson
ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler released his top 10 interior offensive line rankings ahead of the 2025 season. Neither Simpson nor Alijah Vera-Tucker made the top 10 or even the honorable mention section. However, both were listed in the “also receiving votes” category.
AVT, like Simpson, is also scheduled to be a free agent in 2026.
“That is going to be complicated. If I’m [AVT’s] representatives, I’m making the case that I deserve a little more money [than Simpson] because I was a first round pick, I’ve shown an ability to play tackle and [guard], I’ve now been healthy for a year and a half straight, and maybe I want to get to the open market. Maybe some team with a great offensive line coach is like, you know what? That is our next right tackle,” Caporoso explained.
Vera-Tucker is two years younger than Simpson. However, the former USC product has battled durability concerns throughout his career.
Over the last two years, Simpson has appeared in 34 out of 34 possible games. Vera-Tucker has never played a full 17-game season, and Simpson has done it twice in a row heading into 2025.
Spotrac’s calculated market value projections expect Simpson to make more money in free agency. Simpson is projected to receive an annual average salary of $14.2 million per year, which ranks 14th best among the highest-paid guards in football.
While in those same projections, Vera-Tucker is expected to command only $11.2 million per season on a new deal. That would rank No. 18 among the highest-paid guards in football, per Spotrac.
Is There a World Where the Jets Can Extend Both IOL?
Rogers made a compelling case for how the Jets could extend both Simpson and AVT.
“I think continuity on the offensive line will mean more to this regime than any Jets regime we have seen since they had it in 2009-2010. Cap gymnastics are going to be fascinating because I think they’d like to keep everyone. They’re in a really really special place that they have two tackles on rookie contracts, where maybe you can pay two guards? Where you time it up that they’re expiring or their money is up when it’s time to pay the tackles? I would not say it’s impossible that both AVT and Simpson are here for the next three years, but we’ll see,” Rogers said on “Badlands.”
You can’t pay everyone. That is the ugly truth in the NFL in a salary cap-restricted world. You have to make business decisions.
If there is a way to keep Simpson and AVT, it would behoove the Jets to keep this O-Line group together that has the chance to be among the best in the league.
