All eyes in Florham Park, N.J. are on the 2026 offseason.

The fledgling New York Jets will attempt to build up their barren roster from a point so low that it can’t even be called the bottom of the barrel; they’ve cut through to beneath the Earth’s surface.

While the Jets’ 3-11 record says enough on its own, it actually oversells the strength of New York’s roster.

Through 14 games of the 2025 season, the Jets have been outscored by 123 points despite facing one of the league’s weaker schedules. Their Simple Rating System (SRS), a metric that adjusts point differential for strength of schedule, is -10.5, ranking 31st in the NFL (ahead of only the Las Vegas Raiders) and on pace to rank fourth-worst in Jets history.

In fact, even that oversells the state of the Jets’ roster.

The Jets have benefited mightily from one of the greatest special teams units in NFL history. When looking solely at their performance on offense and defense, they are on track to finish as one of the worst NFL teams of all time. Their combined offensive and defensive DVOA is -40.4%, which would currently be the 10th-worst single-season mark since the stat was first tracked in 1978. It’s the NFL’s worst mark in 2025 and would be the worst mark in Jets history by a wide margin.

Simply put, the Jets are bad. Really bad.

That means they will need as many assets as possible to have a chance of rebuilding their team into anything remotely resembling a playoff contender.

Fortunately, their future looks bright in that regard.

Jets’ 2026 cap space projection

According to Over The Cap, the Jets are projected to have $95.1 million in cap space in 2026, ranking fourth in the NFL as of December 19.

Tennessee Titans: $106.8M

Las Vegas Raiders: $105.1M

Los Angeles Chargers: $101.7M

New York Jets: $95.1M

Washington Commanders: $81.9M

Los Angeles Rams: $81.4M

Seattle Seahawks: $71.2M

Cincinnati Bengals: $69.6M

New England Patriots: $48.0M

Indianapolis Colts: $47.6M

This number recently took a slight dip due to the Jets’ contract extensions for center Josh Myers (two years, $11M) and tight end Jeremy Ruckert (two years, $10M).

Myers will have a $4.3 million cap hit in 2026, which dropped the Jets down from their recent projection of $99.4 million. The details of Ruckert’s contract remain unknown, so his extension has yet to affect OTC’s projection, but the number will drop another few million once those details are reported.

The only downside to the Jets’ 2026 cap projection is that they do not have much wiggle room to add space. Only one player on the roster can be released to yield over $2 million in savings: defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, who would yield $7.5 million in savings and zero dead money if released.

Outside of Phillips, the Jets do not have any cuttable players who would yield more than slightly above $1 million if released. That includes starting quarterback Justin Fields, who, if released, would generate just $1 million in savings while still counting for $22 million in dead money on the Jets’ cap.

The lack of flexibility means that New York’s cap projection won’t look as promising relative to the rest of the NFL once March rolls around. Nearly every team in the league will have more flexibility to open up cap space, so it’s possible that multiple teams could surpass the Jets’ cap space, or at least inch closer to them.

Still, even with Myers and Ruckert’s extensions and a lack of cuttable players, the Jets are projected to have over $90 million in cap space. It’s currently on track to rank fourth-best in the NFL and is unlikely to drop too much lower. Perhaps Washington (projected $81.9M) and the L.A. Rams ($81.4M) could close the gap, but the Jets are almost $24 million ahead of seventh-ranked Seattle.

It leaves the Jets in an ideal position to plug their roster holes with veteran free agents who can raise the short-term floor, helping the team inch back toward at least playing meaningful football in December as Aaron Glenn attempts to build up the culture. Meanwhile, New York will use their plethora of draft picks to fortify the roster’s long-term nucleus.

According to Tankathon, the Jets have the most valuable collection of picks in the 2026 draft. Coupled with their top-four cap space ranking, the Jets have all the assets they need to improve a roster that sorely lacks game-changers on offense or defense.