Previous Jets Regime Considered 2025 Quincy Williams Extension

Jamien Sherwood‘s market producing the result it did creates an interesting issue for a new Jets regime. A special-teamer for three seasons, Sherwood stood out subbing for the injured C.J. Mosley in 2024. The result: a three-year, $45MM contract — agreed to just before free agency — that came with $30MM guaranteed at signing.

That deal matched Nick Bolton‘s second Chiefs contract, with both approaching Zack Baun‘s Eagles re-up. This trio helped provide a bump for the off-ball linebacker market, which had taken some hits in recent years. The market soon included three more eight-figure AAVs — in Robert Spillane (Patriots), Dre Greenlaw (Broncos) and Terrel Bernard (Bills). However, the Jets’ most accomplished linebacker is not among this expanding group.

Quincy Williams remains attached to a three-year, $18MM deal. Considering the multiyear Mosley ILB partner has a first-team All-Pro nod on his resume and has played well for four Jets teams, it would seem the team’s Darren Mougey-Aaron Glenn regime has an update to make. It is not yet known if they have another payday in mind for Williams, but ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini notes the Joe Douglas-Robert Saleh partnership was open to a 2025 extension.

As the off-ball linebacker market stagnated following the Fred Warner and Shaquille Leonard extensions in 2021, Williams expressed disappointment with the contract he ultimately received from the Jets. Re-signed months before younger brother Quinnen received a high-end extension, Quincy disagreed with the comps the Jets used in negotiations. That 2023 offseason saw a host of off-ball LBs sign deals in the Williams neighborhood, but the Jets received a bargain. The former Jaguars castoff soared to the All-Pro level during his first season on that contract and added another strong season in 2024, though last season brought front office and coaching staff overhauls.

Sherwood received a much better market for his services this year, as the cap had climbed by a staggering $55MM between the 2023 and ’25 offseasons, but only has one season as an LB regular on his resume. Sherwood, however, is nearly four years younger than Williams; the latter is going into his age-29 season. That adds to a potential Jets dilemma, one that likely soon will involve Williams taking issue with his now-low-middle-class contract. The Murray State alum, who posted four forced fumbles and two sacks to go with 14 tackles for loss this past season, has become one of the league’s top off-ball LBs. He is now the NFL’s 37th-highest-paid player at the position.

One of the top acquisitions of the Douglas era, Williams is now in a key period regarding earning potential. This will be the last last season of his 20s to market toward a lucrative contract, and a $15MM-per-year floor certainly makes sense for a player who has been one of the drivers for the Jets’ Saleh-Jeff Ulbrich-era defensive turnaround. It will be interesting to see how Glenn views the productive ILB, who is due a $6.5MM base salary in 2025.

Elsewhere on the Jets’ payroll, the team added Josh Myers for even cheaper than initial reports suggested. The four-year Packers center signed with the Jets on a one-year, $2MM deal, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson tweets. It is fully guaranteed. This is well outside the ballpark fellow free agent center Drew Dalman landed in, and it profiles as a “prove it” pact. Myers, though, does not have a clear path to starting in New York, which has its 2024 interior-line trio (John Simpson, Joe Tippmann, Alijah Vera-Tucker) returning.

Rounding out Jets O-line notes, the team’s Chukwuma Okorafor contract is worth $1.3MM, Cimini tweets. Despite bailing on the Patriots after one game last season, the former Steelers RT mainstay received $758K guaranteed. He will vie for time at tackle for a team that lost 2024 RT starter Morgan Moses to the Pats.