Quincy Enunwa has been injury-plagued the past two seasons, but that hasn’t prevented the Jets from viewing the young wide receiver as part of their longterm plans. The team has “initiated contract extension talks” with Enunwa, sources told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News (Twitter link).
The 2014 sixth round pick has missed a couple games with a high ankle sprain and hasn’t been near 100 percent when he’s played the past couple of weeks, but he’s been Sam Darnold‘s most trusted weapon when healthy. When he was at full strength at the beginning of the year he got off to a torrid start, catching at least four passes in each of the first four games and going for at least 57 yards in all four.
Enunwa still leads the team in receptions and targets despite his ankle injury and Mehta notes the team values his “leadership qualities”, so it’s not a huge surprise they’re considering locking him up. Enunwa did have to miss the entire 2017 season with a neck injury, but he appears to be fully recovered from that. Enunwa burst onto the scene in 2016 with 58 catches for 857 yards and four touchdowns, but had to settle for his one-year restricted free agent tender offer this offseason due to concerns about his neck.
While Mehta cautions that it’s not a guarantee a deal will get done, sources have told him “both sides would indeed like to find a fair landing spot” in terms of a contract. It’s unclear what type of money he would get, but it’s safe to say it’d be a substantial increase on his current $2.9MM salary. The Jets have a long way to go still in their rebuild, but making sure Darnold still has his safety blanket over the middle is a good step in the right direction.
Most important ability is durability. Jets should move on.