The Dolphins and Cardinals aren’t the only teams taking massive dead-money charges for quarterbacks no longer on the team.
The Jets are, too.
As noted by Rich Cimini of ESPN, the Jets will carry $48 million in 2026 for 2023-24 starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers and 2025 starting quarterback Justin Fields.
Overall, the Jets have $104 million in total dead money this year, third highest in the league.
The cap charge for Rodgers arises from his 2025 release, a post-June 1 designation that spread the dead money over two years. The Fields charge comes from the back end of his two-year contract signed in 2025, the recent trade that sent him to the Chiefs, and the fact that the Jets will pay $8 million of his $11 million in 2026 compensation.
The good news is that the Jets got quarterback Geno Smith for only $3.3 million this season. The better news is that, per Cimini, the Jets are expected to have more than $150 million in 2027 cap space.
Still, the Jets will be operating in 2026 with more than a third of the $301.2 million salary cap devoted to players who no longer play for the team.
