The Jets didn’t have have to extend their two biggest stars this offseason, cornerback Sauce Gardner and wide receiver Garrett Wilson.
With both heading into their third offseason they were extension eligible for the first time. But both were under contract through 2026 after the Jets picked up their fifth-year contract options earlier this year. And they could have used the franchise tag to keep at least one of them under team control through 2028.
But in a span of less than 24 hours this week, the Jets agreed to rare extensions after three years with both players, paying them far more over the next two years than they were set to make.
Gardner inked a four-year extension worth $120.4 million, and Wilson signed a four-year pact worth $130 million, according to multiple reports.
Gardner, who would have made $25.7 million total over the final two years of his rookie contract, is now set to make $30.1 million per year, the highest annual number for a cornerback in NFL history.
Wilson, who was set to make $20.3 million total over the final two years of his contract, will earn $32.5 million per year, the fifth-highest number in the NFL at his position.
It’s easy to look at the extensions and wonder why the Jets did the deals now when delaying could have freed up more than $70 million to spend over the next two years. But that’s shortsighted.
By signing them to extensions now they gain the goodwill of rewarding two cornerstone players instead of leaving them underpaid based on the market for the rest of the league. That’s something the Jets have been hesitant to do far too often under owner Woody Johnson, and changing it will be noticed in the locker room, can only help the culture, and is yet another sign that things are being done differently under new coach Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Mougey.
But it’s more than an olive branch to current and potential future players.
The market for cornerbacks and wide receivers has been in overdrive in recent seasons, and there’s a very good chance that the salaries will continue to jump in years to come. There’s a good chance that in two years, when the Jets were expected to have both under extension anyway, it would have cost them several million more per year to do a deal with each player.
Extending Gardner and Wilson now comes with risk that they won’t live up to their new deals, for whatever reason, but that comes with every contract that gets signed.
Plus, by signing them to long-term extensions now, the Jets can likely give themselves room to maneuver with cap space in a year or two in the hopes of being a contender.
Not just because the league’s salary cap is expected to continue rising, but because the Jets can manage their respective cap hits with void years to push some of the cap burden into the future (when that cap space becomes available) and maintain wiggle room to add talent for a potential playoff run.
Like we said, it’s more than an olive branch. It’s just good business. And that’s a good sign for the Jets’ future.
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