Jets LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson Retiring From NFL

Update:

D’Brickashaw Ferguson confirmed his retirement via his Twitter account on Saturday.

Thank you for the numerous messages of support. It has been a blessing to be apart of the NYJ. My letter to you pic.twitter.com/hcIRk41QtM

— DBrickashaw Ferguson (@DBrickashaw) April 9, 2016

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Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the Jets wanted LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson to cut his 2016 salary in half in order to gain some cap space that they could to re-sign QB Ryan Fitzpatrick.

According to Mehta, Ferguson had been contemplating retirement since the Jets first approached him regarding a pay cut. Ultimately, Ferguson decided to call it a career rather than play for a significant reduction in his salary.

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Rich Cimini of ESPN reports that Jets LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson reportedly has decided to retire after contemplating the decision for weeks,.

According to Cimini, Ferguson decided to retire because he no longer feels he can play up to his usual standard.

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reported recently that the Jets have approached Ferguson regarding a pay cut.

The Jets obviously need some more cap room, especially if they plan on re-signing QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, so it wasn’t surprising they asked him to take a pay cut.

Joel Corry mentions that the Jets will pick up $9.093 million of salary cap space from Ferguson’s retirement to go along with $5.014 million in dead money. Corry also points out that the Jets can recoup $1.8 million on Ferguson’s signing bonus after the restructured his deal in 2013.

Ferguson, 32, was is in the seventh year of his eight-year, $73.6 million contract that included $34.8 million guaranteed. He stands to make base salaries of $8.625 million and $11.275 million over the final two years of the agreement.

In 2015, Ferguson appeared in all 16 games for the Jets and was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 60 offensive tackle out of 77 qualifying players.