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The New York Jets have to make a decision on defensive lineman Bryce Huff.
He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in March. Gang Green can either sign him to a long-term deal, let him hit the open market, or they can franchise tag him.
I spoke with former NFL general manager Randy Mueller on “The Boy Green Show” and he explained what a potential tag-and-trade could look like this offseason.
“Because his body of work is somewhat limited and because he is a certain percentage of the plays guy at this point, you’re going to get less than a first-round pick,” Mueller explained on Wednesday, January 10. “I think they [the Jets] could probably get a second-round pick.”
The Jets don’t have a second-round draft choice in 2024 because of the Aaron Rodgers trade with the Green Bay Packers.
Tagging Huff Allows the Jets to Keep Full Control
If the Jets don’t tag Huff they will have no way of preventing him from hitting the open market.
A franchise tag would give the Jets more time to work out a long-term deal or they could parlay that into a potential tag-and-trade.
Jets general manager Joe Douglas admitted that they “aren’t there yet” in terms of considering placing the tag on Huff. The Jets won’t have to make that decision until the middle of March so they still have plenty of time to sort through their options.
“Yeah, Bryce is a great player development success story. I know I’ve talked about it before. For an undrafted free agent to come in and finish his contract year [with] 10 sacks, that’s a special thing. He is well deserving of all of his success. This is part of the business,” Douglas said. “Couldn’t be more proud of Bryce and what he has accomplished.”
If Huff hits the open market and signs a big deal with another team the Jets could get compensatory picks in the future. However, those assets wouldn’t be usable until the 2025 offseason. Even then the formula relatively speaking is a crap shoot.
There’s a History of Tag-and-Trade Scenarios in the NFL
Over the last five years, there have been five players tagged and traded.
Most recently wide receiver Davante Adams was flipped from the Green Bay Packers to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022. The trade price was a first and a second-round pick.
In 2020, the Jacksonville Jaguars tagged Yannick Ngakoue and flipped him to the Minnesota Vikings. Jacksonville received a second and a conditional fifth-round draft choice.
The Houston Texans tagged defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney in 2019, “solely with the intent of trading him,” per Jeff Risdon. They found a taker in the Seattle Seahawks. Houston received a pair of players (Jacob Martin and Barkevious Mingo) along with a third-round draft choice.
There was another tag-and-trade in 2019 between the Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs. Seattle flipped Clark and a third-rounder to the Chiefs in exchange for a first-rounder, a third-rounder, and a second-rounder.
If the Jets decide to go in this direction, there is a recent track record of NFL teams pulling off tag-and-trades.
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