NFL Trade Rumors
It was a tough 2024 season for veteran LB C.J. Mosley. After manning the middle of the Jets’ defense for three straight years, Mosley was felled by a neck injury. He played four games all year and was shut down before Halloween.
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New York has moved on to other younger options but the soon-to-be-33-year-old Mosley is not calling it quits on the NFL just yet. He’s hoping to catch on with another team and continue his career in 2025. Teams will understandably have major concerns about his neck injury but if Mosley gets medical clearance, his experience should land him a role somewhere.
Even at his peak, Mosley was not the most adept coverage linebacker and that part of his game has not improved as he’s gotten older. Still, he should have value for teams. College football does not prepare linebackers for the NFL nearly as well as it used to and it’s not uncommon for players to take years to develop into contributors. Meanwhile, Mosley is a proven performer who can help a team today, whether it’s in run defense or leadership.
Mosley, 32, is a former first-round pick of the Ravens back in 2014 out of Alabama. He played out the final year of his four-year, $8,788,002 rookie contract before the Ravens picked up his fifth-year option for the 2018 season.
Mosley made a base salary of $8,718,000 for the 2018 season before signing a five-year, $85 million contract with the Jets that included $51 million guaranteed. New York re-signed him to a two-year, $17.25 million extension last March.
However, New York released him with a post-June 1 designation after the 2024 season.
In 2024, C.J. Mosley appeared in just four games for the Jets and made three starts, recording 17 tackles and no sacks.
We have him included in our Top 100 Available NFL Free Agents list.
Although the Buccaneers brought back Lavonte David for a 14th season, the rest of the linebacker room is tissue-thin. Tampa Bay has former mid-rounder SirVocea Dennis and Plan A would be for him to seize the second starting role next to David. Plan B is likely veteran Anthony Walker, Plan C is journeyman Deion Jones.
If all of those fall through, the Buccaneers could turn to Mosley. He’s a proven, experienced commodity and if he’s healthy and playing at the level he was in 2023, he would bring more to the table than either Walker or Jones, the other veteran options in the room. He’s not a difference-maker at this point in his career but a playoff hopeful team like the Buccaneers just needs someone who can hold the fort down at the end of the day.
The Raiders have to be mentioned in any conversation about free agent linebackers because they have the worst group in the NFL as currently constructed. Las Vegas lost both Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo in free agency and wasn’t able to...
