Breaking Down the Cap Mechanics of a Potential A’Shawn Robinson Trade

If the Jets were to trade for A’Shawn Robinson, he’d require, at minimum, a maximum restructure for his contract.

Joe Person, who covers the Carolina Panthers for The Athletic, had this to say about Robinson.

Joe Person@josephperson

As they did with Andy Dalton, the Panthers have given the agent for DL A'Shawn Robinson permission to seek a trade. This was expected. Mentioned last week Robinson was a likely cap casualty/trade candidate.

nytimes.com

A’Shawn Robinson to seek trade

2:49 PM · Feb 27, 2026 · 32.1K Views

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16 Replies · 48 Reposts · 252 Likes

This prompted Dom Cutri of Jets X-Factor to respond with this quote-post:

Dom C@DC_NFLDraft

Moogs talked about bringing in veterans via FA. Robinson has plenty of reps as an odd front DE and playing 3T in bear fronts. As a run-first defender with a history of being a leader/mentor for the younger teammates, I'd pick up the phone. You're prob talking a pick swap kind

Joe Person @josephperson

As they did with Andy Dalton, the Panthers have given the agent for DL A'Shawn Robinson permission to seek a trade. This was expected. Mentioned last week Robinson was a likely cap casualty/trade candidate. https://t.co/4NJEhwv6Hj

3:59 PM · Feb 27, 2026 · 701 Views

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2 Replies · 11 Likes

Here are the mechanics of that trade from a cap standpoint.

Panthers: take on $2,055,000 in dead cap charge for 2026

Jets: take on a $10.5 million cap charge for Robinson

The Jets do have to spend $240,771,025 in cash this season to be compliant with the CBA.

Article 12, Section 9, part b:

For each of the following multi-League-Year periods 2021–2023 (three League Years), 2024–2026 (three League Years), and 2027–2030 (four League Years), there shall be a guaranteed Minimum Team Cash Spending of 90% of the Salary Caps for such periods.

However, taking on that entire $10.5 million cap charge in 2026 would not be prudent. So, if the Jets were to trade for him, the minimum they should consider is a maximum restructure by converting his 2026 salary into base + signing bonus with four void years.

Right now, Robinson is due this:

Base salary: $7.635 million (non-guaranteed)
Per-Game Roster Bonus: $765k
Workout Bonus: $100k
Incentives: $2 million (LTBE)
Total Cap Charge: $10.5 million

There are several ways to attack a maximum restructure for Robinson. You could incorporate the Per-Game Roster Bonus, Workout Bonus, and/or incentives into the base salary, then convert the entire $10.5 million, or they could just keep the bonuses and incentives and only convert the base salary.

If the Jets were to just do it with the base salary, here’s how it’d look:

Base salary: $1.3 million
Prorated Signing Bonus: $1.267 million
Per-Game Roster Bonus: $765k
Workout Bonus: $100k
Incentives: $2 million (LTBE)
Total Cap Charge: $5.432 million
Cap Savings/2027 Dead Cap Charge: $5.068 million

The Jets shouldn’t take on the entire cap charge in one season, because the dead cap charge in 2027 will be minimal.