The 2024 NFL draft is in the rear-view mirror. We can now ask the question “what was Joe Douglas thinking?” This is in reference to the messed-up trade of John Franklin-Myers and the whole situation with the edge players. It seems strange to me. I need all of you to help me figure this out.
The New York Jets acquired John Franklin-Myers off waivers. He was a fourth round pick of the Los Angeles Rams out of Stephen F. Austin in 2018. While he was with the Rams he had two sacks as a rookie, along with a sack and forced fumble against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Jets claimed Franklin-Myers off waivers before the 2019 season started. This was one of the better moves by Joe Douglas in picking up a young, strong defensive lineman with upside off waivers before the 2019 season.
Franklin-Myers was injured early in preseason in 2019, then was put on injured reserve in the third week of the 2019 season. He didn’t play a single snap that year.
In 2020 Franklin-Myers was a regular contributor, playing 500 total snaps on defense, which was the fourth most on the defensive line. He started only two games, but he had three sacks, 19 total tackles, five tackles for loss and 13 quarterback hits. That’s not great, but he was young with growth potential.
In 2021 Franklin-Myers started the first four games with three sacks and 15 tackles, so the Jets decided to sign him to a $55 million contract extension with $30.2 Million guaranteed. This for a guy with a total of eight career sacks at the time. His contract still had almost two full seasons left on it at a fourth round draft pick level, so the bump in pay was unwarranted and foolish. This is exactly how teams get in future salary cap trouble, by giving out lucrative contracts because of perceived possible future player improvement.
I understand he was a 25 year old ascending talent, but he had a grand total of six starts in his career. This was a highly exorbitant amount for a still unproven player. At the time I was wondering why is he giving this guy so much money? I very much liked Franklin-Myers as a player, but he was a fourth round draft pick from Stephen F. Austin University. He hadn’t done nearly enough to be granted such a huge contract. I could maybe see a small bump in pay or an incentive laden extension to his existing contract, but he was being paid like a player with a much more extensive resume.
Franklin-Myers ended the season (2012) leading the defensive line in snap counts as he played 717 snaps, which was more than Quinnen Williams (614 snaps), who missed two games, Sheldon Rankins (640 snaps), who missed one game, and Folorunso Fatukasi (559 snaps), who missed two games. Franklin-Myers cooled off a bit after his hot start to finish the season with six sacks, 35 total tackles, six tackles for loss and 14 quarterback hits.
The following two seasons Franklin-Myers leveled off as a player He played the second most snaps on the team behind Quinnen Williams. He had a two year total of 8.5 sacks, 71 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 34 quarterback hits, starting all 34 games. These are all good numbers, but Franklin-Myers also brought great versatility, as he could play as a 3 technique or as an edge defender. That made him valuable to the Jets. What also made him valuable was his ability to play the run for a team that gave up the 8th most yards rushing in 2023.
These are the PFF rankings for Jets defensive linemen (against the run):
#3) Quinnen Williams
#29) Jermaine Johnson
#48) John Franklin-Myers
#53) Hassan Reddick
#87) Javon Kinlaw
#92 Quinton Jefferson
#101) Bryce Huff
#117) Leki Fotu
#130) Solomon Thomas
These were out of 137 players graded.
John Franklin-Myers was graded as a defensive end, although he played both defensive tackle and defensive end, which just adds to his value as a player.
The highest ranked defensive linemen against the run for the Jets in 2023 were Quinnen Williams (#3), Jermaine Johnson (#29) and John Franklin-Myers (#48). The rest of the players had too few snaps to be rated or were just total trash. The Franklin-Myers ranking of #48, while not exceptional, is far greater than most of the defensive linemen on the roster now.
The Jets allowed edge rusher Bryce Huff to walk in free agency without ever trying to re-sign him to an extension. Huff was the #25 ranked overall edge player in the NFL in 2023, and he was the #10 ranked pass rusher in 2023 by PFF. Huff had the second highest win rate per PFF. Huff’s 22.9% win rate on pass rushes was second only to Micah Parsons’ 24.9%. Huff’s pressure rate of 12.2% was second to Parsons’ 12.4% pressure rate. Huff had a career-high and team-best 10 sacks, 21 quarterback hits, and 67 quarterback pressures in 2023. Huff played 480 defensive snaps, which was fifth highest on the Jets defensive line. Huff was a 26 year old ascending player who signed a three year, $51.1 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles worked the contract so that the 2024 cap hit is only $4.35 million.
In a counter move, the Jets traded for the Eagles’ Haason Reddick, who earned back-to-back Pro Bowl selections while leading the Eagles with 27 sacks over the past two seasons. The Jets traded a third round pick in 2026 that would become a second round pick if Reddick plays 67.5% of defensive snaps this season and has 10 or more sacks. Unless the Jets and Reddick work out an extension, Reddick is slated to become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Reddick was the #43 ranked edge in 2023 and the 35th ranked pass rusher per PFF. Reddick turns 30 years old this season.
It has been reported that the Jets somehow messed up the trade of John Franklin-Myers to the Denver Broncos during the 2024 NFL draft. Apparently, the Jets traded away a draft pick that was supposed to be included in the package to Denver. The Jets were prepared to send Franklin-Myers and a 2024 fifth round pick to Denver, which had agreed to send an undisclosed draft pick to the Jets to complete the trade. Yet the Jets traded that fifth round pick to the Carolina Panthers to move up 11 spots in the third round to select Malachi Corley. It was also reported that Denver was none too pleased by the Jets actions. Hurriedly the Jets and Broncos had to rework the trade agreement, with the two teams eventually settling on a 2026 sixth round pick going to the Jets.
I don’t understand how a GM could trade a pick it had already made a deal for to another team. The Jets had to get the John Franklin-Myers’ contract off the books, so you can imagine that they received much less in compensation that they would have on the original deal.
By trading Franklin-Myers the Jets saved $7.3 million in cap space, but will get stuck with a $9.1 million dead cap charge this year. Joe Douglas stated that Franklin-Myers’ cap hit was too steep for the Jets to have on the books in 2024, even though it was Joe Douglas who gave Franklin-Myers the contract in the first place. The Jets brought up the subject of Franklin-Myers possibly taking a pay cut to stay instead of trading him. Joe Douglas said “There was a discussion but it got to the point where the gap was too far for us to bridge. So Denver was obviously able to do that.”
The Broncos almost immediately were able to rework the Franklin-Myers contract into a two year, $15 million deal with $10 million guaranteed. This deal (on a per year basis) would have been less for the Jets in 2024 than the $9.1 million dead cap charge.
The Athletic gave the trade a C.
Jets trade grade: C
The move is understandable because the Jets are sound on the edge and needed to find cap room somewhere.
However, if there was ever a team that needed to push every chip into the middle of the table for one season, it’s the 2024 Jets. They’ve invested everything into making it work with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. And even if he remains on the roster past next season, the buildup to his arrival has so far been loaded with empty calories. There’s no time to sacrifice success.
The draft pick is inconsequential. The Jets gave up a solid depth piece for cap purposes.
If you look at the 2024 cap hits for Huff ($4.35 million) and Franklin-Myers ($5 million) combined it is over $5 million less than what the Jets gave Haason Reddick, not to mention the Jets also gave up at least a 2026 3rd round pick in the Reddick trade. Joe Douglas said he did everything he could to keep his players, but why were the Broncos able to rework the Franklin-Myers deal after they traded for him? And why didn’t the Jets sign Huff for a similar deal to what the Eagles eventually signed him for? John Franklin-Myers and Bryce Huff had a combined 117 quarterback pressures for the Jets in 2023.
The Jets brought in a 30 year old player on a one year contract and lost two solid young defensive players while also giving up a premium draft pick in 2026. By 2026 Reddick will probably be on another team. This doesn’t sound like solid team building to me. Not to mention the messed-up trade with the Denver Broncos. I can’t remember any of the Jets’ former GMs (no matter how awful they were) ever doing something like that. It reeks of someone who doesn’t have a firm grasp of what they are trying to do.
What do you think?
