Espn agrees with you:
Tuesday, March 12
C.J. Mosley, LB, New York Jets
The deal: Five years, $85 million with $51 million in guarantees
Grade: C-
I didn't think Mosley would actually leave Baltimore. The Ravens have lost players they wanted to keep such as Dannell Ellerbe and Kelechi Osemele, but Mosley was the successor to Ray Lewis! He's a 26-year-old linebacker with four Pro Bowl appearances in his first five seasons. Those guys turn into Hall of Famers at a scary pace. Even if you don't think Mosley is necessarily on that track, this is the most damaging free agent the Ravens have lost in a while.
It's an enormous decision from new general manager Eric DeCosta, in his first offseason running things after Ozzie Newsome retired, to drop out of the bidding for Mosley. Good organizations generally set a price tag on players or positions, though, and this is an absolutely astronomical deal for an interior linebacker. We're still waiting on the specifics, but Mosley will have a $17 million average annual salary at a position in which nobody else was even topping $12.5 million before Kwon Alexander hit $13.5 million yesterday.
C.J. Mosley is now the highest-paid middle linebacker in the NFL. Nick Cammett/Diamond Images/Getty Images
To put this in context, consider that the two biggest signings at inside linebacker during the last free-agent period were Anthony Hitchens and Demario Davis, who left for the Chiefs and Saints, respectively. Mosley is a better player than either, though Davis had a good debut season in New Orleans. Mosley's $17 million average annual salary is equal to what Hitchens ($9 million) and Davis ($8 million) are getting on their respective deals combined.
The third-highest-paid free-agent addition at inside linebacker a year ago was Avery Williamson, which is one of the reasons why I find the fit curious here. The Jets weren't great on defense last season, but they were functional at inside linebacker, where Williamson held up as a solid run defender and former first-round pick Darron Lee finally took a step forward and improved as a cover linebacker and communicator. They then hired defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who has spent most of his career working out of a 4-3 base.
Adding a third inside linebacker who makes record-setting money, then, doesn't really seem to make sense. If the Jets line up in a 4-3, they would have Lee as the weakside linebacker, Mosley in the middle and Williamson in an unfamiliar role as the strongside option in a year where the Jets owe him $6 million guaranteed. Anthony Barr, whom the Jets are signing to an as-yet-undisclosed deal, would then become a 4-3 defensive end. I don't love that fit.
Let's say they stay in the 3-4, where they would run out Mosley and Williamson as inside linebackers and keep Barr in his ideal role as a 3-4 outside linebacker. Now, you're either displacing Jordan Jenkins in one spot with Lee in a new role or giving up on yet another first-round pick, although Lee could have some modest trade value. With $17 million per year, the Jets could theoretically have waited a day or two and added multiple starters to their roster, which is hardly deep with talent. I can understand wanting to add a star like Mosley and figuring out the fit later, but I don't think this is the best use of resources, especially in a year in which the draft holds a ton of front-seven talent.
I would suspect the Ravens will survive losing Mosley, although they'll unquestionably take a hit. They'll likely recoup a third-round compensatory pick for losing the Alabama product, and they could use the money they saved to re-sign both Matt Judon and Patrick Onwuasor, who are free agents next offseason. They've also lost a pair of outside linebackers in Terrell Suggs and Za'Darius Smith to go along with free safety Eric Weddle, and it wouldn't shock me to see them enter into the cut market to go after someone like Justin Houston to help cover some of their losses.
