Getty New York Jets linebacker CJ Mosley making a play in the middle of an NFL game.
A New York Jets veteran just got put on blast.
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report was recently tasked with ranking the top 10 “worst contracts” in the NFL ahead of the 2023 season. Gang Green linebacker CJ Mosley placed No. 7 on the list.
The former Alabama product is in the middle of a five-year deal for $85 million. He still has two years left on the contract for about $34 million.
Kay called it a “bad contract” and bluntly stated that Mosley is “an average talent at this late stage of his career.”
Revealing the Key Criticisms of Jets LB CJ Mosley
When the Jets originally signed Mosley to the record-breaking $85 million contract a lot of people immediately raised eyebrows at the deal.
Gang Green completely reset the inside linebacker market in free agency by a wide margin. For a brief period, Kwon Alexander wore the crown as the highest-paid linebacker in football during the 2019 offseason.
The San Francisco 49ers handed him a four-year deal for $54 million which included a $13.5 million average per season.
However, a short time later the Jets came in guns blazing with a new contract that paid Mosley $17 million per season. That annihilated Alexander’s former No. 1 total by more than $3.5 million per year.
Apparently, that contract hasn’t aged well over the years according to Kay.
“Mosley has been hindered with injuries for much of his tenure with the organization, including missing 30 of a possible 32 games in the two years that followed the signing,” Kay explained in an article posted on June 13. “When he finally returned to action in 2021. Mosley looked like a shell of his former self.”
A major point of Kay’s argument was the less-than-stellar Pro Football Focus grades.
In 2021 he finished with an “atrocious” 42.0 PFF grade, per Kay. The 69.8 PFF grade in 2022 proved in Kay’s eyes that Mosley is an “average talent” and someone who isn’t worth the $17 million base salary in 2023.
Several Holes in the Argument Against Jets LB CJ Mosley
Kay mentioned that the veteran linebacker has been “hindered with injuries for much of his [Jets] tenure” and that seems a bit overdramatic.
In four seasons with the Jets Mosley has only missed 15 games due to injury and 14 of those came in his very first season. Over the last two seasons, Mosley has played in 33 out of 34 possible games.
Mosley chose to opt out of the 2020 season due to the COVID pandemic. That wasn’t injury related, it was a decision he admitted that he made for the safety of his family.
Kay pointed at PFF grades over the last two seasons to prove that Mosley is a “shell of his former self” and an “average talent.”
However, his 168 tackles in 2021 was a new career high for the five-time Pro Bowler. In 2022 he was voted a second-team All-Pro by NFL coaches and his peers.
The Jets did overspend at a position (off-ball linebacker) that NFL teams typically don’t spend at.
However, Mosley has provided plenty of bang for the Jets’ buck.
You’d think that the veteran would have quelled a lot of the outside noise with his All-Pro campaign last season, but here we are.
