Exploring Potential New York Jets Cap Casualties

The New York Jets had their hands tied in free agency thanks to a tight situation with the salary cap.

Now, it's easier to see why. With so many guaranteed contracts, cutting any number of players wouldn't have done them much good to give them a bit more wiggle room, so they did what they usually do in such a situation: restructured some deals.

That being said, there are still some players whose salaries don't quite match up with the value at their position, or whose salaries are structured in such a way that makes them expendable without making them expensive in the process.

Which players could find themselves on roster watch?

Salary cap info provided by Spotrac.com.

Vladimir Ducasse

Since being drafted in the second round out of Massachusetts, Vladimir Ducasse hasn't lived up to the billing. He's earned just enough confidence from his coaches to play 70 snaps in 2010 and 97 in 2011. 

To put that in perspective, Saints tackle Charles Brown—drafted three spots behind Ducasse—played 409 snaps in 2011 alone.

What's interesting is that, in all the drama around Wayne Hunter and the right tackle spot, Ducasse's name hasn't been mentioned in the slightest as a potential replacement.

Cutting Ducasse would result in just $528,740 worth of dead money according to Spotrac, but with a cap hit of $754,370 in 2012, it wouldn't save much to get rid of him. 

Jay Richardson

Signing a one-year deal with no bonus money almost immediately makes you a potential candidate for an early exit in training camp.

Jay Richardson has spent the majority of his career as a 4-3 defensive end, and although he has some pass rush moves in his repertoire, he's far from exempt as a cap casualty. The Jets already have an outside linebacker/defensive end hybrid in Aaron Maybin, and adding Demario Davis gives them another option in those pass rush packages.

If Richardson isn't the fit they imagined, they could cut him and his $700,000 salary could be used to add veteran depth during the season.

LaRon Landry

The Jets are thin at safety, so putting two safeties on this list will certainly raise some eyebrows, but the structure of their salaries makes them easy targets to create a roster spot if the Jets need one.

Between Landry, Bell and Eric Smith, the Jets have an abundance of veterans at safety. Do they really need that many?

With a $4,000,000 salary that is non-guaranteed and comes with no signing bonus, Landry's salary is constructed in a way that makes cutting him a non-issue whether it be for injury, schematic fit or performance reasons.

Nick Folk/Josh Brown

Kicker Nick Folk has had an interesting tenure with the Jets, making just 76.6 percent of his field goals in the past two seasons after being signed from the Cowboys.

He has instilled so much confidence as a kicker, the Jets went out and signed veteran kicker Josh Brown as insurance. In the past two seasons, Brown has made 80.6 percent of his field goals.

With a $700,000 base salary and no signing bonus, the Jets could save all of that money off the cap in 2012 by cutting Folk.

That, of course, would mean they have found his replacement in Brown (or someone else), and with Brown's base salary at $800,000 with no bonus money, the Jets have another option there.

Either way, unless the Jets plan on carrying two kickers, they can save some money by deciding on which of the two they'll carry in 2012.

Erik Frenz is the AFC East lead blogger for Bleacher Report. Be sure to follow Erik on Twitter and '"like" the AFC East blog on Facebook to keep up with all the updates.