JULY 18: Williams’ deal includes $47.835MM guaranteed at signing, according to OverTheCap. That number certainly looks to have been based on the Simmons deal, which included $47.830MM locked in. Williams’ full guarantees now top the defensive tackle market.
The guarantees cover a $24.5MM signing bonus and Williams’ 2023 and ’24 base salaries, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. Part of Williams’ 2025 base salary ($15.65MM) is fully guaranteed, with Florio adding $6.24MM of that total is already locked in. The rest of that money, however, does not become guaranteed until March 2025. At that point, $5MM of Williams’ $20.75MM salary for 2026 becomes guaranteed as well. The rest of Williams’ 2026 base and his full 2027 base are nonguaranteed.
JULY 13: Talks between the Jets and their emerging defensive star have, as foreshadowed yesterday, yielded a deal. Quinnen Williams has agreed to terms on an extension, reports Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). The Jets have since announced the agreement.
Williams, 25, will earn $96MM over four years, making this the NFL’s second-largest contract handed out to a defensive tackle. The mega-contract includes $66MM in guaranteed money, Pelissero adds. One of the key points in contract talks was length, rather than financial terms, per SNY’s Connor Hughes, who tweets that Williams got his preferred four- (rather than five-) year pact. 
The 2023 offseason has seen the DT market erupt, and it comes as no surprise that Williams has become the latest to cash in. The former No. 3 pick enjoyed a career-year in 2022, recording 12 sacks, a pair of forced fumbles and 28 QB hits. Those figures helped earn him Pro Bowl and All-Pro nods, and gave him considerable leverage at the negotiating table.
Williams made it clear that he intended to have an extension worked out by April, under the threat of skipping out on voluntary OTAs. In the time that has passed since, then, other young producers along the defensive interior have inked deals of their own. Jeffery Simmons (Titans), Daron Payne (Commanders), Dexter Lawrence (Giants) and Ed Oliver (Bills) are among the beneficiaries of the new, lucrative market, and Williams has now surpassed each of them with this pact.
The Alabama product will earn $24MM per season on his second contract, just ahead of Simmons’ $23.5MM AAV but still well short of Aaron Donald‘s $31.67MM figure. Williams was already on the books for this season via the fifth-year option (valued at $9.6MM), so his time in the Big Apple will run through the 2027 campaign at a far more lucrative rate.
By securing this deal, the Jets have retained a homegrown high-impact player for the first time in the Joe Douglas era. Williams is the first Jets first-rounder to secure a second contract with the team since 2011 draftee Muhammad Wilkerson. A number of other young players Douglas has added will likely receive extensions of their own in the intermediate future, but today’s is a signficant sign of progress for the win-now franchise.
New York inked linebacker Quincy Williams to a three-year extension earlier this offseason, so he and his brother now have a shared future with the Jets. From a league-wide perspective, it will be interesting to see how much of an impact today’s news has on negotiations between the Chiefs and Chris Jones. The latter has been angling for a deal which will place him in the No. 2 spot amongst defensive tackle compensation, and a report from earlier this week indicated a agreement could be imminent. Kansas City may have to up their offer to satisfy Jones’ goal of surpassing all DTs behind Donald in the pecking order.
Given their acquisition of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, 2023 (and, perhaps, a season or so beyond that) is a campaign holding considerable expectations for the Jets. While the future Hall of Famer should elevate the team’s offense, its defense will still be counted on to perform at the elite level it showcased last season. Williams will be at the heart of that effort now and for many years in future.
Hallelujah! I’m guessing Chris Jones is looking to beat it.
Let’s just hope it works out better than the Wilkerson extension
If they can’t fix Aaron Rodgers’ 2024 cap number, Aaron and Quinnen will take up over half the cap themselves.
What else would you expect from the Jets, good management?
Jets gonna Jets.
They’ve done well in building the team to the competitive window (Zach Wilson not withstanding). Now, it comes time to see if the win now moves (Rodgers, mostly, but the other pieces as well) pan out.
The Jets would do well to remember that one player, no matter how good, will not win a chip on his own. The Bucs built a superstar team around Brady. The Rams did so around Stafford. Rodgers will be a better passer than any QB the Jets have had, but the team needs to be solid and ready to win regardless of who the QB is. Williams being on a manageable deal is a big part of that (especially being a homegrown star, which sends a good message to other players). Luckily for both parties, Williams did not demand the ludicrous Donald level deal. Still, it’s a lot of money.
Q! That man is scary good. I suspect he will be even better than last year, and terrorize OLine players and QBs all of 2023 – especially when Michael Clemons and JFM lineup next to him.
Too bad they’re the jets and will finish third or worse. Loser
I mean, it’s a competitive division. I could see the Jets finishing third to first. Buffalo figures to be the front runner, but just one or two games dropped could be a huge swing in the East this year. The Pats look to be the fourth place team on paper, but they have of stealing games from their rivals that end up being impactful. I don’t that the Pats are better than their competitors, but they will in all likelihood have an impact on which team edges out the others. O’Brien was a necessary hire for them.
All this craziness to win 8 games and miss the playoffs…
Dude get outta here with that noise
it’s the obligatory time of year where Bills and Fins fan hype their teams and crack on the Jets … get it in while you can
You haven’t made the playoffs since 2010. You are tied for the second longest playoff drought in North American Sports. You only won 7 games last year. You weren’t even close to the playoffs at all. Your Oline is absolute garbage. Your off ball LBs are non existent. You don’t have a TE that would start on any other NFL team. Your safeties are as bad as a group that exists in the NFL. You have one viable receiving target. Your best rusher Breece is coming off a bad knee injury and no matter what people say, is not going to be healthy at any point this year. But because you are in New Jersey you get this big push. Rodgers couldn’t do anything with the equivalent Defense, better Oline. Same targets and much better running game. Especially in a weak division like the NFC North. Lol the jets have losing records to everyone in the division for the last 5 years. Forgive everyone if we don’t eat up the hype. Washed QB. Minimal weopons. Bad Oline, bad safeties and off ball linebackers. A defense that stopped a bunch of back up QBs and the only offenses they stopped were heavily injured( Dolphins/Bills). Sorry if everyone isn’t sold on the fraudulent jets.
I felt like this was more of a college essay than a message board comment. I especially liked the argument being made upfront (bad oline, bad safeties, etc.) and then the argument being made again (bad oline, bad safeties, etc.) at the end of the comment.
It is a bad line. One tackle is 40 and the other, in 3 years, hasn’t played 17 games; total.
Equivalent Defense? ha! Packers had a top 5 defense ONCE while Rodgers was there. Jets had toughest 2022 schedule of any team in NFL. Amazing that u cite a few games where opponents had QB injuries when Jets had perpetual bad QB play all season, went through 7 offensive tackles due to injuries, and lost our starting RB. Can’t wait for Jets defense to shut people down again this year and for Rodgers to run the offense.
We won 7 games with the worst quarterback play in the league. The position is infinitely improved from where it was last year, wide receiver is improved, having a healthy Breece Hall improves the running game. Even if the defense takes a step back the offense is more than good enough to pick up the slack. Plus they’re not done yet. Sign Cook to pair with Hall, get Kwon resigned, get the last two draft picks signed, see who gets cut around the league, you think honestly last year’s team is in any way the team that takes the field this year?? Nice attempt with the hate, we’ll see you on the field soon enough
The jets are a laughing stock, even in NY. Your coach is an affirmative action hire who doesn’t understand offense or quarterbacks. Everything stabby said is entirely accurate. Injuries are a part of the game, and now you’re paying insane amounts of money for just a few actual starters. No fan will ever admit their team is garbage, that’s why you’re a fan, and the rest of the league determines your reputation, not you.
And you give a free ride to the Giants who continue to act entitled with that big contract to one-year wonder Daniel Jones.
Your use of the term “affirmative action hire” tells us all exactly what you are. Screw you, I hate people like you
He didn’t need even need to say that and it still is painfully obvious he is low iq. I am surprised at his self restraint on not bringing up the vax and lizard people.
How is he an AA hire? Where is this garbage coming from ? I know it’s the internet and you can post whatever you want from the comfort of your grandma’s basement. But you do have to present some facts to go with that. At some point.
He’s a racist pig. Just because Saleh is Muslim, this piece of trash acts like he wasn’t qualified for the job. Only lily-white old guys are rightfully hired, do I have this right Highwaymenace?
First second contract in 12 years!?! It’s not like that was the result of 1 front office, either. How many people have been fired in that time period? Like the Knicks, the jets massively benefit from the delusions of New Yorkers
Robert Salah was a defensive coordinator and elevated Jets defense from bottom 5 to top 5 in the NFL. Yeah he has been horrible! Keep your blinders on and stare at the Jets from the past. Offensive and Defensive ROYs last year demonstrate this is a different team. Stop being so ignorant.
Don’t waste your energy, he’s a racist ignoramus
Dumb Sports Fans think one sport equals another. NFL front offices are not run by Dumb Sports Fans.
Nick Bosa and Chris Jones have both been waiting for this deal to get done. Good for Q. Williams for getting the deal and congrats to the Jets for knowing it’s better to get it done early rather than waiting for the price to go up.
Yeah, it seems like this is the “realistic” ceiling for most interior linemen. No one’s handing out that Donald deal, although it makes it easier on the guys you mentioned when they angle for Williams’ numbers.