C.J. Mosley stumbled to a rocky start with the Jets, but the former Ravens draftee has since reclaimed his place as one of the NFL’s best linebackers. The Jets are rewarding the veteran defender as a result.
No guaranteed money remained in place on Mosley’s through-2024 Jets deal, but ESPN’s Field Yates indicates the sides agreed on a two-year, $17.25M deal that includes $13.25M in additional guarantees.
The guarantees will ensure Mosley is part of the 2024 Jets, and the second year stands to give the team an option on a player who was previously set to be a 2025 free agent. The 31-year-old defender will receive $9M fully guaranteed for 2024.
Mosley signed a then-record-setting (by a wide margin) contract to join the Jets back in 2019. Then-GM Mike Maccagnan gave the former Ravens first-rounder a five-year, $85M deal.
Because Mosley opted out due to COVID-19 concerns in 2020, his contract tolled to 2024. No guarantees remained on the Pro Bowler’s deal, which was set to void next year.
Forming a high-end tandem with Quincy Williams, Mosley has shined over the past three seasons. Missing only one game in that span, Mosley has strung together back-to-back 150-plus-tackle slates and collected his first All-Pro honor — a second-team selection — in 2022.
Pro Football Focus graded Mosley as a top-10 off-ball linebacker last season and viewed him as the position’s premier coverage player. As teams search for three-down linebackers with this skill, Mosley has rewarded the Jets.
While Maccagnan ended up being fired weeks after signing Mosley and drafting Quinnen Williams, those two remain the team’s front-seven centerpieces.
Each is now signed beyond 2024, with Williams having inked a lucrative extension going into training camp last year. Mosley, who will turn 32 this summer, saw injury trouble end his Jets debut after two games.
While the team did not see any return on its monster investment until Year 3 of the deal, the belated rewards have come in as Robert Saleh‘s defense has been one of the NFL’s best over the past two years. Mosley has been a central part of that.
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