NFL Free Agency: New York Jets Cut Bart Scott, Clear $30M in Salary Cap Space

The New York Jets have just finished up their first wave of offseason cuts and among the salary cap casualties is veteran linebacker Bart Scott. Linebacker Calvin Pace, safety Eric Smith and tackle Jason Smith were also all released on Tuesday meaning the Jets have freed up roughly $30 million in salary cap space to start building for the future of the franchise.

There were rumors that Scott might be cut, with NFL Network’s Ian Rappoport reporting that the Jets would meet with Scott on Thursday to discuss a pay cut. That report must have been bad information as the meeting is not going to take place with New York deciding to just wash itself clean of Scott, his contract and his problems.

Scott and the New York media were not the best of friends last season and his exit is likely going to be applauded by mostly everyone. Scott infamously called for a media boycott after a game this past season and went as far as to threaten a reporter with violence during an interview. His play on the field hardly excused his surly actions off the field as Scott was a part of one of the worst defenses in the NFL in 2012.

With his release, the expectation is that Scott will likely sign with the Buffalo Bills as former Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine is a familiar face that will work Scott into the new scheme.

So if he winds up in Buffalo, Scott will get to play the Jets twice a year which means we’re likely going to get more Scott trash talk than we all would like to handle.

For the Jets, they divorced themselves from a problem in the locker room and freed up some serious cash in the process. More cuts are likely going to come but it’s clear that New York is moving in an entirely new direction and they’ll have some money to play with moving forward.