Two members of the Jets’ young core, foundational talents Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson, are extension-eligible for the first time. While new deals for the club’s top two selections of the 2022 draft are not imminent, Connor Hughes of SNY.tv expects negotiations to commence at some point after this month’s draft.
Hughes had previously reported that the Gardner talks are likely to be straightforward. Despite a bit of a regression in his third professional season, there is seemingly no concern over Gardner’s ability to regain the elite form he displayed in his first two campaigns. As such, he is going to reset the cornerback market, which is currently paced by Derek Stingley’s new deal with the Texans that features a $30MM AAV and roughly $48MM in full guarantees.
Coming to terms on a price point for Wilson could prove more difficult. Wilson has had to make do with poor to mediocre quarterback play since entering the league, so even though he has managed to record over 1,000 receiving yards in each of his three NFL seasons, he is not viewed as a player who will top the exploding WR market. Hughes spoke with a few league sources who predicted the Ohio State product would land an AAV between $25MM-$30MM whenever he puts pen to paper.
As of the time of this writing, that would put Wilson somewhere between the 7th- and 12th-highest-paid earner at the receiver position. Tyreek Hill and Brandon Aiyuk earn $30MM per year (with Amon-Ra St. Brown barely above that threshold), while DeVonta Smith earns $25MM per year.
Sometimes forgotten in the extension rumors is offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker, a 2021 first-rounder who is entering the fifth-year option season of his rookie deal and is presently on track for free agency in 2026. ESPN’s Rich Cimini says new GM Darren Mougey will also examine Vera-Tucker’s contract situation after the upcoming draft.
AVT missed significant time due to injury in 2022 and 2023 but rebounded to play 15 games last season. When he has been on the field, he has been a quality blocker and has seen action and both tackle spots and both guard spots.
That said, he only covered LT and RT as a result of injuries to other players, and last year, he lined up exclusively at RG. It sounds like he will stay there for the long haul, as Mougey says he views Vera-Tucker as a guard (via Hughes). So even though the club currently has a glaring need at right tackle, Mougey will need to address that need in some other way.
Running back Breece Hall is unlikely to be the subject of offseason extension talks, as was reported previously. The contract-year back has yet to regain the level of explosiveness he displayed in his injury-shortened rookie year, and new head coach Aaron Glenn wants to utilize an RB-by-committee approach that features Hall, Braelon Allen, and Isaiah Davis (via Cimini). That would stand to limit Hall’s production in his platform season, and as Cimini observes, Glenn’s comments could certainly fuel trade speculation.
Despite Hall’s inability to recapture his 2022 form, Cimini believes he would generate interest from rival teams.