Jets, Maye not likely to reach deadline deal
Trading Jamal Adams didn’t completely cure the Jets of a contract dispute with a star safety.
The team has made multiple contract offers to Marcus Maye since he was tagged in early March, a league source told the Post, but all signs indicate an NFL-imposed deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign extensions will pass at 4 p.m. Thursday without a deal in place.
Though Adams’ market-setting contract demands and looming potential holdout are now the Seahawks’ issues, the Jets and Maye haven’t made much headway in the 12 months since Adams was traded. Maye, who skipped voluntary spring workouts but attended mandatory minicamp, will face two options: Hold out or play on a one-year contract worth $10.612 million. Following the deadline, talks cannot resume until after the season.
One Jets offer averaged about $8.5 million per year over the life of the deal, and Maye’s counteroffer was pulled when it became clear that other teams valued him more if he reached free agency, according to NFL Network.
So, where is fair value? The reported low-ball offer was made before Maye was tagged, which upped the numbers, The Post learned. Maye signed the tag in late March.
Multiple NFL agents expressed that the starting point for negotiations of this nature is widely accepted as the average cost of back-to-back franchise tags. A tag on Maye in 2022 means 120 percent of his 2021 salary ($12.73 million) and creates a two-year average of $11.67 million.
That happens to fall closely in line with a reasonable comparison for Maye: As the top freeagent safety in 2021, John Johnson signed for $11.25 million per year over three years with the Browns. Neither Maye nor Johnson has a Pro Bowl or All-Pro selection.
But CBS Sports contract analyst Joel Corry — a former NFL agent — called Maye “a Pro Bowl-caliber” safety and explained he should be shooting for higher now that the pandemic-forced cap squeeze has lessened.
“If you offer something less than the tag on a long-term deal, we have nothing to talk about because you are sending a signal that you don’t want me here,” Corry said. “I’m going to take it as, ‘Play it out and we go from there.’ I have nothing to think about until you put me in the minimum $14 million-per-year range.”
Maye’s negotiations are complicated by his age and the likelihood of only one major payday in his career after earning $6.5 million over his first four seasons as a first-round pick, compared to Adams’ $22.2 million as a first-rounder. Some players in Maye’s situation could be enticed by more guaranteed money arriving sooner and a lower average salary, to protect against serious injury or poor performance.
Maye is entering his age-28 season and will be 29 — three years older than Johnson was in March — if he reaches free agency next season. As another example, he is 14 months older than Washington’s Landon Collins, who has played six seasons.
None of the six safeties earning more than $12 million per year signed their deal at age 28 or older. Seven safeties since the start of 2019 have topped Johnson’s annual average, but all have Pro Bowls and/or All-Pro selections on their résumés.
Devin McCourty re-signed for $11.5 million over two years with the Patriots at 32 years old, but an argument can be made Maye is ascending whereas McCourty’s best years are in the past.
Maye is the backbone of a weak Jets’ secondary and set career highs in 2020 for tackles (82), sacks (two), passes defended (11) and turnovers generated (five).
Though the safety pay scale generally increases more slowly than that of other positions, Corry projects the Vikings’ Harrison Smith, 32, and the Chiefs’ Tyrann Mathieu, 29, are going to get “very strong deals” soon.
“The market is going to continue to go up,” Corry said.