C.J. Mosley became the league’s highest-paid inside linebacker when he signed with the Jets, much to the surprise of his former boss in Baltimore.
Mosley signed a five-year deal with the Jets worth $85 million with $51 million guaranteed. While the Ravens desperately wanted to keep him, owner Steve Bisciotti simply couldn’t contend with the figure the Jets offered.
“We were a little disheartened that we found the number for inside linebackers was indeed going through the roof,” Biscotti said, per The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec. “I don’t want to say that it caught us flat-footed. But the numbers, it was a shocking number and something that C.J. deserves. I think the world of him, but I would not have wanted to put a franchise tag on him and then hold him here if we weren’t planning on offering that kind of money. When we got wind that it was going to be that high, we thought the right thing to do was to let him sign there with the Jets.”
Before Mosley, Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly was the highest-paid linebacker at $12.359 million per year. The Jets decided to go way over that number at $17 million a year with Mosley.
The Jets were playing with a ton of money when it came to spending in free agency. Entering the offseason, the Jets had over $90 million in available cap space. They also had room to upgrade at middle linebacker with Darron Lee the incumbent at the time. He was recently eventually was traded to the Chiefs as a result of the Mosley signing.
Mosley’s desire was to stay with the Ravens, but when a team offers you $17 million a year, it’s hard to turn it down.
