The New York Jets have several big-money contracts looming on the horizon with their young stars.
Head coach Aaron Glenn delivered a moving message when speaking with senior team reporter Eric Allen at the Annual League Meetings on this topic.
“Here is one thing I want to make sure that we do as a Jets organization: the guys that we draft, we do a lot of studying on those guys, so we know those guys, we want to keep those guys back in-house. The best form of free agency is signing your own players, and we want to make sure that we are that type of team,” Glenn explained.
Aaron Glenn delivered a powerful message about how important it is to keep your own players & why that’ll help define a ‘new era of #Jets football.’
‘The guys that we draft, we do a lot of studying on those guys, so we know those guys, so we want to keep those guys back in… pic.twitter.com/wBHhPRxzbV
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) April 3, 2025
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This Is a New Era on 1 Jets Drive
Since 2012, the Jets have had 17 first-round draft picks. Of the 15 who are or were eligible for contract extensions, only one re-signed with the Jets, veteran defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.
Quinton Coples (2012), Dee Milliner (2013), and Mekhi Becton (2020) didn’t re-sign with the Jets.
Sheldon Richardson (2013), Calvin Pryor (2014), Leonard Williams (2015), Darron Lee (2016), Jamal Adams (2017), Sam Darnold (2018), and Zach Wilson (2021) were all traded away.
Alijah Vera-Tucker (2021), Sauce Gardner (2022), Garrett Wilson (2022), and Jermaine Johnson (2022) are all currently eligible for contract extensions.
The two most recent first-round draft choices, Will McDonald (2023) and Olu Fashanu (2024), are not yet eligible to have discussions about a new deal.
What these fun facts mean is the Jets have stunk at drafting and developing their own players. When these players were eligible for new deals, they either weren’t good enough to merit an extension or the team traded them away.
Talk Is Cheap, Will the Jets Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is?
The Jets followed through on Glenn’s words this offseason by bringing back Jamien Sherwood.
Sherwood, 25, re-signed with the Jets on a three-year deal for $45 million. It was a costly deal, he is now among the top-five highest-paid linebackers in football, but the brass deemed it important enough to pull off.
Will the team be willing to cough up the bag for some of the first-round picks from the 2022 NFL draft class?
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic said on the “Flight Plan” podcast that he expects Gardner and Wilson to command deals that pay upwards of $25 million to $30 million per year on new multiyear contracts.
“I think ultimately they’re going to sign them this offseason is kind of my feeling,” Rosenblatt said on the podcast. “[My feeling is they will sign] both. I think they will get ahead of it. I think they’re valued all the way at the top of the organization.”
If big deals are going to come this offseason, it won’t happen before the 2025 NFL draft.
“In regard to extensions in general, there has been a lot of talk about that. We have several players, whether it’s early extensions or just players we can extend in the last year. Those are good ‘problems’ to have, but when we are having those discussions those are good discussions to have. Right now I’m focused on the draft. Once we get through the draft, we’ll talk about potential extensions for whoever that may be,” general manager Darren Mougey said at the Annual League Meetings.
Any Garrett Wilson extension talks or any other #Jets player on the roster for that matter will have to wait until after the 2025 #NFLDraft according to GM Darren Mougey.
🎥 @nyjets #JetUp pic.twitter.com/gWkxOyzu1a
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) March 30, 2025
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