This will be a season of upheaval for the Jets, but one key player appears to be safe. The Jets have no plans to trade defensive lineman Leonard Williams, according to Manish Mehta of the Daily News (on Twitter). 
Recently, the Jets considered the notion of trading Williams if they could net a second-round pick in return. The former first-round pick is under contract in 2019 via a $14.2MM fifth-year option, a figure that would put him ninth amongst all interior linemen in the NFL. Of course, he’d only get more expensive after that point and the Jets were previously burned by Muhammad Wilkerson‘s oversized pact.
For now, it sounds like the Jets are willing to wait things out and see if they can hammer out a new deal in the next year. If they can’t get a deal done, they could employ the franchise tag to stall. A 2020 franchise tag would cost the team roughly $18MM, meaning that Williams would earn about $32MM over the next two years. The AAV of $16MM would rank as the sixth-highest salary of defensive tackles league-wide.
As far as we know, the Jets have yet to engage in extension talks with Williams, but those talks are expected to occur in 2019.
Williams will know how to use him to his best advantage.
Williams has been a stand out with the Jets. Imagine what he could do for a good team. Worth every dollar he’s paid.