On the eve of free agency, some information has come to light regarding the re-signing of Jeff Cumberland and Darrin Walls, per His Cimininess. Cumberland received a three-year contract for $5.7M, with about a $1M guarantee. His base salary this year is $900,000 and will receive $1.9M the next two years.

Idzik using roster bonuses, not signing bonuses. Avoiding future proration & dumping $ into '14. #Jets will have healthy cap for long time. — Evan Silva (@evansilva) March 11, 2014

Walls, on the other hand, got two years and $1.9M, including a $350,000 roster bonus. Idzik has thus re-signed Cumberland, Walls, and Ellis Lankster for a total of $1.505M in guaranteed money, all of which are roster bonuses. Roster bonuses, unlike signing bonuses, create a cap hit in the year the contract is entered into. A signing bonus is prorated over the life of the contract.

In other words, Idzik is using the large amount of cap space the New York Jets have this year to his advantage by putting as much as he can into this year's salary cap. He isn't deferring the hit, which is what Mike Tannenbaum tended to do. So far, Idzik has signed good talent such, and he's retained good talent, and he's doing it in a fiscally responsible way.