Roquan Smith's Record Deal Is Not Good News For Jets

It won't be easy for the Jets to retain Quincy Williams, who is a free agent this offseason.

Just when it seems NFL contracts can't go up any higher, they do. 

Last Tuesday, Ravens' linebacker Roquan Smith signed a record deal for five years and $100 million. 

That's cool, but what does that have to do with J-E-T-S?

Jets linebacker Quincy Williams is an unrestricted free agent and his numbers over the past two seasons are similar to Smith's. 

You had better believe Williams' agent Trevon Smith (Revolution Sports) noticed.

I'm sure he has looked at his client's production over the past two seasons and seen just how similar Williams' numbers are to Smith's stats. 

Smith:

2021: 17 games played, 163 tackles (95 solo), 68 assists, 3 sacks 

2022: 9 games played, 86 tackles (51 solo), 35 assists, 2 sacks

Williams:

2021: 16 games played, 110 tackles (73 solo), 37 assists, 2 sacks

2022: 15 games played, 106 tackles (74 solo), 32 assists, 3 sacks 

Age is another key factor. Smith is 25 years old, and Williams is 26. 

All things considered, it's logical to speculate, Williams' representation will be shooting for a deal in the neighborhood of what Smith just landed with Baltimore. 

This is anything but good news for the cap-starved New York Jets, who are currently sitting as the No. 16 ranked team in the league in terms of the 2023 salary cap. 

While most of the fanbase and mainstream Jets' media is standing on the deck gazing up at star quarterbacks Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo, the captain of this ship, General Manager Joe Douglas, is somberly staring straight ahead at this gigantic chunk of ice he created, that's sticking out of the water. 

Douglas has a number of huge decisions to make over the next few months that will impact this team potentially for years to come. 

He will have to make these decisions while trying to work around the reality of the salary cap. 

One of these difficult decisions that lies ahead is Williams. 

Even if Douglas wants to keep Williams around at MetLife Stadium, the question becomes will he be able to? 

When I close my eyes, it's hard for me to imagine how Douglas will manage the big picture. 

Not only does Douglas have the challenge of trying to sign Williams, but he also has to figure out how to pacify his older brother, Quinnen Williams, who is demanding what will become a new record kind of defensive tackle deal of his own. There are also only five returning offensive linemen total under contract.

Then, there's that quarterback position to ponder. 

Don't forget the other 23 Jets' free agents he has in the back of his mind, and even if he doesn't want to bring them back, he will still need to replace them. 

Eight million dollars sounds like a lot of money (it sure does to me), but in the NFL world it's like a $100 bill that buys two bags of groceries. 

Granted, Douglas can clear some cap space by cutting certain veterans, but then again, those spots will still need to be restocked as well. 

Iceberg dead ahead! Iceberg dead ahead!

Those the sobering words that echoed in the nighttime frigid air in the movie, The Titanic. 

What will happen with Williams through all of this? 

I don't think he comes back. 

The needs at quarterback and offensive line trump the need of a high priced linebacker. 

That doesn't mean they don't need their second leading tackler over the past two-seasons. 

It simply means they can't afford him.

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