No surprise here. The Jets will pick up Leonard Williams‘ fifth-year option before the May 3 deadline, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. 
Williams was already under contract for the 2018 season at a reasonable $2.975MM salary. It’s not 100% clear what his 2019 salary will be since he has spent time at both defensive tackle and defensive end.
Fifth-year option salaries for top ten picks are dictated by the average of the top ten players in the NFL at the position, which is equivalent to the transition tag. This year, the transition tag the transition tag for defensive ends was set at $14.2MM. For defensive tackles, it was $11.4MM.
Williams, who will turn 24 this summer, had just two sacks last season, but that was due largely to playing snaps on the interior line. Pro Football Focus placed Williams as the No. 21 ranked defensive tackle in the NFL last season with a solid 84.8 overall score. He has graded out as a top 20 player at his position in each of his three NFL seasons, per PFF, and earned Pro Bowl honors for his work in 2016. It’s conceivable that Williams would have been in line for another Pro Bowl nod in 2017 had he not suffered a wrist injury early in the season. The tender wrist clearly affected his performance, though he did not miss a single game.
The Jets and Williams can still hammer out a long-term extension between now and 2019, which seems likely to happen. The Jets value Williams and they have the cap flexibility to lock him down for years to come.
Hoping the Jets sign DT Johnathan Hankins, to enable Williams to get back to the end position.
Williams is one of those blue collar guys coaches love because he will do any job asked of him without whining.