While most fans understand where a franchise player stands with his team, in the case of Muhammad Wilkerson and the Jets, the situation is murky. Wilkerson has been considered the best player on New York's defense, but the Jets have dragged their feet in contract talks to the point where it may be counterproductive to sign him for the long term. And that makes for an unhappy defensive end.
With training camp approaching, the two sides need to reach some agreement, get Wilkerson back on the field and create a best-case scenario.
This situation has been brewing for years. The Jets’ first opportunity to extend Wilkerson should have presented itself early in 2014. The team and general manager John Idzik were battling an image issue — that they were unwilling to spend money — and to change that perception, a quick extension for Wilkerson would have been smart.
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That was a good time for an extension for a couple more reasons. One is that teams still were approaching contracts conservatively because the cap had failed to rise between 2011 and 2013. Wilkerson would have considered any big offer, especially before the cap limit for 2014 was set.
Secondly, the market for players like Wilkerson was somewhat limited. The top paid 3-4 defensive end earned around $11 million, and that was an outlier, with most far below. The Jets easily could have surpassed that figure with Wilkerson, without compromising their cap situation. They also had the advantage of saying they needed to be somewhat conservative in their offer in order to be active in free agency.
Instead, the Jets dragged their feet. The 2014 cap rose significantly, and rather than being the first to sign a player from that draft to a new deal, they watched as Robert Quinn, J.J. Watt, Patrick Peterson and a slew of young players were re-setting markets at every position. The Jets spent nothing in free agency and had all this cap space burning a hole in their pocket. Any agent will to see that as a sign that the sky should be the limit in a contract offer. Wilkerson’s price immediately went up as he started to ask for a contract somewhere between Quinn and Watt.
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Idzik was let go in 2015 and replaced by Mike Maccagnan, who had his sights set on using all the cap space that Idzik failed to use. Again, the thought was that Wilkerson would be the first extension of the Maccagnan era. But there was no movement.
The 3-4 defensive end market grew considerably. More players earned $10 million-$11 million a year, which further justified whatever Wilkerson was seeking. Now in 2016, with free-agent contracts exploding, Wilkerson’s price has grown even higher as unproven talents like Malik Jackson signed contracts worth over $14 million a season. The bottom line is that the Jets missed their window for a realistic extension multiple times over.
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The Jets are different than other team in that they likely have the depth to let go of a player like Wilkerson in the future. They have Sheldon Richardson, considered to have more upside than Wilkerson, under contract and will need to allocate money to him. They already drafted a replacement for Wilkerson in Leonard Williams, who many considered the best player in the 2015 draft. So the Jets likely are more than willing to have Wilkerson play for one more season, then let him walk next year.
The state of the franchise also works against the defensive end. While Wilkerson is just 27, the fact is the Jets’ drafts from 2009 through 2014 largely were busts, which puts a player like Wilkerson in limbo as to what he means to the team's future.
While the Jets are one of the older teams in the NFL, they have great contractual flexibility with those older players since none were extensions off those drafts. If things go bad this year, the Jets will be capable of blowing up the team with no real burdens on their salary cap. A team looking at things that way will not sign an expensive veteran.
The Jets do, however, need Wilkerson for this season. Richardson’s off-field issues are well documented, and he might miss time this year. Williams remains unproven.
Because of that, the Jets need to figure out their end game with Wilkerson quick and not allow this to drag on through the summer. Wilkerson has the right to not sign his tender and sit out as long as he wants with no recourse from the Jets. The last thing they can have is Wilkerson, who's coming off a broken leg, going into the season out of shape and getting injured or being ineffective while clogging up $15 million in cap space.
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The right thing to do for the Jets: Be open with Wilkerson about his future and offer him a "no franchise tag designation” for 2017 in return for signing his contract and coming to camp on time. They also can restructure the terms of his contract so that Wilkerson earns more in August, rather than waiting 17 weeks for his full salary. The Jets’ handling of Wilkerson’s and, to a lesser extent, Ryan Fitzpatrick’s contract will not go unnoticed by others. Such a gesture would help lessen any negative impact.
To have Wilkerson opt out of any activities would be a black eye on the organization, especially if the team struggles this season. It’s a risk the Jets don’t have to take by simply giving in just a little before the inevitable break-up in 2017, when Wilkerson gets his big contract from somebody else.