Top 10 Jets free-agent signings of all-time. . . and the three worst

The Jets have taken some big swings in free agency over the years. There are four Hall of Famers on this list of their top 10 signings and it doesn’t even include LaDainian Tomlinson, the disappointing return of Darrelle Revis, or the acquisitions of Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers which were both via trades. Only one of them helped the Jets win a championship, though, and for every deal that worked out moderately well it seemed as if there was at least another that went kablooey. As the Jets start to gear up for another class of free agents in 2026 – they have an estimated $79 million in salary cap space heading into the start of the league year on March 11 – here is a look at their top 10 hits over the years… along with their three worst misses:

10. Eric Decker

A member of the Broncos team that lost the Super Bowl to the Seahawks at MetLife Stadium, Decker soon made that field his new home turf as he signed with the Jets for a five-year, $36.25 million deal a little over a month later in March 2014. A shoulder injury limited him to just three games in 2016 and essentially ended his time with the team but in his first two years Decker was very productive. He compiled 154 catches for 1,989 yards and 17 touchdowns between 2014 and 2015.

9. Damien Woody

A two-time Super Bowl-winning interior lineman with the Patriots and Lions, Woody changed teams and positions when he came to the Jets in 2008, signing a five-year, $25 million contract to play right tackle. He started every game there in 2008 and 2009 and missed just three due to injury in 2010. In the wild-card game against the Colts that year, though, Woody tore his Achilles. The Jets released him two months later and haven’t been back to the playoffs since.

8. C.J. Mosley

When Mosley signed his five-year, $85 million deal with the Jets in 2019 it wasn’t even the most interesting Jets linebacker move in free agency that year. That honor went to the deal the team made with Anthony Barr before he rescinded his agreement and returned to the Vikings. For a while, it seemed as if Mosley was going to be a total bust – he played in just two games before a groin injury sidelined him for the season and then opted out of 2020 due to the COVID pandemic – but when he returned in 2021 he posted a career-high 168 tackles. He played every game for three straight seasons, earning a Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro nod in 2022, and was the captain of a playoff-caliber defense that never quite made it there, mostly due to poor offensive output. Toe and neck injuries limited him to just four games in 2024 and he was released in March 2025.

7. Alan Faneca

Most of his Hall of Fame career was spent with the Steelers, but the Jets got some very good play from Faneca in the two years he played for them. Was it worth the five-year $40 million contract that made him the highest paid lineman in NFL history when he signed in March 2008? He did start every game of his time here, had just one holding penalty in those two seasons, made two Pro Bowls and was named a second-team All-Pro, and helped the Jets post the league’s top rushing offense in 2009. The Jets cut him in April 2010 after they thought they had drafted his replacement: Vlad Ducasse.

6. Calvin Pace

A year after he transitioned from defensive end to outside linebacker with the Cardinals, Pace signed a six-year, $42 million deal with the Jets. In the next eight seasons with the Jets – he was released by them in 2013 only to re-sign on a more cap-friendly one-year deal and then got a new two-year deal from them in 2014 – he recorded 46 regular-season sacks and another three in the playoff runs of 2009 and 2010. He still ranks fifth all-time in sacks as a Jet pand he is the only one in the top 10 in that category not initially drafted by the Jets.

5. Bart Scott

They weren’t technically a package deal, but when the Jets hired Rex Ryan as their head coach in 2009 it made sense that they would also sign his free agent alter ego at linebacker. Scott came to the Jets in March 2009 from Baltimore, where Ryan had been his defensive coordinator, and signed a six-year, $48 million contract. That deal paid off immediately with Scott leading the defense that took the team to back-to-back AFC Championship Games. In four years, Scott started 60 of 63 games in New York with 299 tackles, 37 tackles for loss, nine sacks… and the soundbite that summed up that era of Jets football: “Can’t wait!”

4. Kevin Mawae

One of the Jets’ three key free agent acquisitions in March of 1998 (spoiler alert: Vinny Testaverde and Curtis Martin were the others) Mawae came here from Seattle on a five-year deal worth $17 million and blossomed from a good starting center into a Hall of Famer. In his eight seasons with the Jets, he was first-or-second team All-Pro six times with six Pro Bowl nods. He started 177 straight games after he arrived, a streak that ended in October 2005 with a triceps injury. The Jets released him in March of 2006, shortly before they drafted his replacement, Nick Mangold.

3. Vinny Testaverde

The Long Island native returned home to the Jets as a backup to Glenn Foley in 1998 on a one-year $1.5 million contract but after Foley was injured in Week 2, Testaverde stepped in and went 12-2 as the starter for a team that went 12-4 and made it to the AFC Championship Game. He threw 29 touchdown passes with just seven interceptions and totaled 3,256 yards passing that season and earned a huge three-year, $19.4 million extension in March 1999. Unfortunately, that contract was not as Jets-friendly as the first one as he tore his Achilles in the 1999 opener. He would return to lead the league in interceptions with 25 in 2000 and, though he brought the Jets back to the playoffs in 2001, neither he nor the core of that Jets team were ever the same.

2. Don Maynard

The very first player the organization signed after it was formed as the AFL’s Titans in 1960 turned out to be a pretty good one. Seen as an NFL reject after a short stint with the Giants and time in the CFL, Maynard immediately became a star for the team that would change its name to the Jets in 1963. In 13 seasons with the franchise he helped them win Super Bowl III (he had no catches in the game after suffering a hamstring injury in the AFL Championship), saw the merger of the NFL and AFL, and had a Hall of Fame career as Joe Namath’s go-to target. At the time of his retirement after the 1973 season he was pro football’s all-time leader in receptions (633) and receiving yards (11,834); all but six of those catches and 102 of those yards were with the Jets.

1. Curtis Martin

After three seasons with the Patriots, the Jets (and Martin’s former Patriots head coach Bill Parcells) signed him to a six-year $36 million contract as a restricted free agent before the 1998 season. Martin immediately became a key to that team’s march to the AFC Championship Game. Martin ran for at least 1,000 yards in the first seven of his eight seasons with the Jets – a knee injury that wound up to be career-ending limited him to just 735 yards in 12 games in 2005 – and set the single-season team record with 1,697 in 2004, his last fully healthy season. He retired in 2006 as the franchise’s all-time leading rusher (10,302 yards) and with the most rushing touchdowns as a Jet (58). He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Three worst Jets free-agent signings

3. Allen Lazard

His four-year, $44 million contract in 2023 preceded the arrival of Aaron Rodgers after the two of them had been such a productive pair in Green Bay. When Rodgers’ season ended with his Achilles tear, Lazard’s basically did too as he caught just 23 passes in 14 games. He flashed some promise in 2024 when he caught six TDs – including Rodgers’ eventual first with the Jets – but without his favorite quarterback in 2025 Lazard was back to being ineffective. The Jets released him in December.

2. Le’Veon Bell

After making first- or second-team All-Pro in four years with the Steelers, Bell sat out the 2018 season rather than sign his franchise tag. That didn’t dissuade the Jets from signing him to a four-year, $52.5 million contract in 2019. He did OK that first year, with 789 rushing yards and three TDs, but he played just two games in 2020 before it became clear he wanted to be traded and the Jets released him in October.

1. Trumaine Johnson

In 2018, the Jets signed Johnson to a five-year $72.5 million contract to become a cornerstone of their defense. In two troublesome seasons that included injuries, discipline and benchings because of his disappointing play, he appeared in just 17 games. He was released after the 2019 season and, while he spent a week on the Panthers’ practice squad in 2020, he never played in the NFL again.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.