Things haven’t necessarily gone smoothly for the Jets this offseason. Neither the organization nor incumbent quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick are budging in their contract negotiations, and the team may be forced to rely on Geno Smith as their starter.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Wilkerson is still awaiting a long-term deal, and the Pro Bowler recently told The New York Post that he’s “shocked” and “frustrated” by the entire situation.
All the while, coach Todd Bowles has continued to operate as if no turmoil existed. However, the second-year coach addressed some of the Jets’ major offseason storylines earlier this week. Brian Costello of The New York Post passed along some of the notable quotes, which we’ve compiled below…
On his reaction to Wilkerson’s recent comments:
“You can ask any player in the league and they’re going to have the underpaid answer. It’s not a distraction, it’s just part of business. People get frustrated. People vent out. It’s no different than your kids. If you get frustrated, you vent, you vent out and you move on.”
On how he approaches the situation:
“It doesn’t bother me. I was 20-something once too, and I said a lot of things that I said or didn’t want to say. When you’re younger, you say things, but he says things that he means, so obviously he meant them.”
On how the organization plans to handle the Wilkerson issue:
“I’m not going to discuss Mo’s situation here in public. I’ll talk to them and Mo about it. I’m not going to talk to everybody else about it. It’s something that I’ve always done.”
On the Jets’ current quarterback situation and the status of free agent Ryan Fitzpatrick:
“With all due respect, I’m through talking about Fitz. I’m going to worry about the guys I have on the team. I think I’ve expressed and said everything about the quarterback that I’m going to say at this standpoint. Until I get to training camp and see what happens, I’m pretty much done talking about it.”
Jets are losers…..