new york jets santonio holmes.jpg

The Jets will reportedly soon release wide receiver Santonio Holmes.

(Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

All along, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the Jets would release wide receiver Santonio Holmes after the 2013 season, in order to create salary cap space.

That release will come any day now, according to Pro Football Talk.

So what does it mean for the Jets?

Holmes was due to count $10.75 million against their salary cap in 2014 – an absurdly high figure for a player who has been significantly limited by injuries over the past two seasons. If the Jets cut Holmes, he would count just $2.5 million against their cap, in “dead money.” That’s a salary cap savings of $8.25 million.

In 2012, Holmes played just four games and had 20 catches, before being sidelined with a serious mid-foot fracture. He was limited by a hamstring injury to 11 games and 23 catches in 2013, though he did not exactly have a polished quarterback, in rookie Geno Smith.

Still, those are by far the two least productive seasons of Holmes’ career. His previous low for catches in a season: 49 as a rookie with the Steelers in 2006. Holmes, who will turn 30 years old on Monday, seems to be on the down side of a career highlighted by earning Super Bowl MVP honors when the Steelers won the title after the 2008 season.

Before the 2010 season, the Jets acquired him in a trade with the Steelers, for a fifth-round draft pick. Prior to 2011, the Jets signed him to a five-year, $45.25 million contract. Holmes agreed to restructure his contract after the 2013 season, in order to remain with the Jets. His base salary was lowered from $11 million to $7.5 million.

Despite Holmes’ pay cut, his contract with the Jets will go down as an unproductive decision for the franchise, though the Jets did make the AFC Championship Game in his first season with them.

With the Jets, Holmes never approached the best season of his career, 2009, when he had 79 catches for 1,248 yards and five touchdowns. In his first two seasons with the Jets, he had 52 catches for 746 yards and six touchdowns, and 51 catches for 654 yards and eight touchdowns. Then came the statistical dip, and injury struggles, of the past two seasons.

Though Holmes did not offer the Jets much in 2012, it would not have made financial sense for them to cut him before the 2013 season. Even with his pay cut, he still counted $9 million toward the Jets' salary cap in 2013. But his dead money figure was $11.25 million, which means it would have cost the Jets $2.25 million more to have him off the roster than on it.

This offseason, the Jets are also expected to release quarterback Mark Sanchez, which would save them $8.3 million against the salary cap, because Sanchez’s cap figure is scheduled to be $13.1 million, and his dead money number is $4.8 million. The Jets have to make a decision about Sanchez by March 25, when he is due a $2 million roster bonus if he is still on the team.

If the Jets do indeed cut Holmes and Sanchez, that would free up about $16.55 million in salary cap space.

Last season, the salary cap was $123 million per team. In 2014, it is reportedly expected to be about $132 million. With a $132 million cap, the Jets are projected to have about $25.7 million in cap space – and that is before the expected cuts of Holmes and Sanchez. Throw in those cuts – plus the $9.5 million the Jets would save by releasing cornerback Antonio Cromartie – and the team is looking at about $51.75 in salary cap room for 2014.

It could certainly use this money to bolster its wide receiver and/or tight end positions in May's NFL Draft, since the Jets' passing game needs as much help as it can get.