Content available exclusively for subscribers
Baseball could have a lockout next year with CBA talks not going well.
The big sticking point is the commissioner and most owners want a salary cap, and the union doesn’t.
One of the benefits of a salary cap is that it can help level the playing field, with every team limited in what they can spend, so small-market teams can compete.
And in a cap sport, GMs have to juggle how they allocate their resources constantly, and in doing that, they are going to give something up.
It’s hard to have a perfect team because the salary cap can giveth and taketh away.
A perfect example of how a hard cap can force teams to make hard decisions related to roster construction and resource management is the Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams are considered the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl after trading for defensive end Myles Garrett.
But with them backing up the Brinks truck for the likes of Garrett, QB Matt Stafford, and cornerbacks Trent McDuffie/Jaylen Watson, it’s going to be hard for them to spend a lot of money on depth.
So if they have a lot of injuries, they could be in trouble.
That was the case the last time they took the “f the draft picks approach” a few years ago when they got Stafford, CB Jaley Ramsey and Von Miller.
That approach obviously worked because those players spearheaded a Rams’ Super Bowl Championship.
Compare the current Rams to the Jets.
Before I continue, I want to make it clear that I’m not putting the 2026 Jets in the same category as the 2026 Rams. The Rams are Super Bowl contenders. Not many would put the Jets in that category.
I just want to make a point about depth.
Jets GM Darren Mougey is kind of taking a polar opposite approach from Rams GM Les Snead.
Mougey took his cap space and spread the wealth, spending money on a lot of different new additions as opposed to two or three big-ticket items.
This is one of the deepest Jets teams in quite a while.
Mougey’s work this off-season should help the Jets withstand injuries much better than they did last year.
The Jets depth last year was awful, and now, on paper, they are one of the deepest teams in the league.
Not saying they are one of the best teams in the league, but one of the deepest.
And in a sport as violent and injury-prone as the NFL, this will likely come in handy during the 2026 season.
The defensive line, which had a major dropoff last year when rotating in backups for starters, which happens a lot with that unit, should not have that problem this year.
Adding veteran receiver Tim Patrick on May 14 was a stealth move by Mougey. It was a reported 1-year deal for $1.5 million. With the addition of Patrick, they add to the depth of an already talented receiver group, and he’s good enough to challenge for a starting job.
The Jets were pretty thin at cornerback last year, but now look at that room.
Joining Brandon Stephens and AZ Thomas on the outside is former Chicago Bear Nahshon Wright, coming off a career year. Which two will start? Who knows, but whoever is the first guy in for them should be a pretty good cornerback. Look at nickel back – you have two pretty good ones in Jarvis Browlee and D’Angelo Ponds.
I’m not going to go over every position today, but man, have the Jets done a 180 on the depth front.
The one thing they still need to do is go out and get a veteran backup QB, unless they think Bailey Zappe is that guy. Putting raw rookie Cade Klubnik in the primary backup spot now doesn’t seem like the way to go at this point. He has a lot of ability, but he needs a lot of work.
So there are different ways to allocate your cap space.
And it will be intriguing following the 2026 Jets to see how Mougey’s “spread the wealth” approach works.
In a sport that usually has a ton of injuries, it can’t hurt.
June 8, 2026
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Tuesday.
