Even as a new regime took over, the Jets completed lucrative extensions for Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner this month. Gardner’s came at a market-setting rate. The team is committed to the duo as pillars for the Aaron Glenn-Darren Mougey foundation.
The Jets’ 5-12 2024 season notwithstanding, the team has a few more extension candidates. As it stands, though, that lot is more likely to wait until 2026 for deals to commence — if they ultimately do. Breece Hall said (via ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini) he is not expecting an extension this year; this aligns with earlier reporting on the subject. Some of Hall’s teammates may also be waiting a while.
The team is unlikely to go through with more extension this year, per Cimini. This would leave Alijah Vera-Tucker and Quincy Williams uncontracted in 2026, while Jermaine Johnson‘s fifth-year option covers next season. Johnson is coming off a major injury, and Vera-Tucker missed much of the 2022 and ’23 seasons before returning last year. The Joe Douglas-Robert Saleh regime was readier to redo Williams’ deal compared to the Mougey-Glenn pairing.
“We’ll see. I mean, what did we shell out, 200-something million dollars? [We] have to take it easy a little bit, but I hope so,” Glenn said (via Cimini) when asked about more extensions coming. “With the guys that we have here, I hope we’ll be able to do that.”
This would set up a situation in which the Jets have franchise tag candidates, but two of the players poised to play out contracts are at positions where tags are rare. The CBA grouping all offensive linemen together would make Vera-Tucker an unlikely tag recipient; ditto Williams, as all linebackers — including 3-4 edge rushers — are tied to the same tag price. This would leave Hall the likeliest player to be cuffed in 2026, but the former second-round pick has yet to show the form that made him an eye-catching rookie. The Jets have Braelon Allen in place as a key Hall sidekick; Allen’s rookie contract runs through 2027.
Hall suffered an ACL tear midway through his rookie season, while Johnson went down with an Achilles tear last September. Vera-Tucker’s in-season shifts to right tackle brought season-ending triceps and Achilles tears. Glenn did say he hopes the Jets and Vera-Tucker can talk about a second contract at some point; Vera-Tucker would embrace an extension, per Cimini. Williams is the only member of this quartet without a major injury on his NFL medical sheet.
The Jets not paying Williams sets up a strange backdrop at linebacker. The team gave three-year-backup-turned-contract-year standout Jamien Sherwood a three-year, $45MM deal just before free agency. As a less proven player is tied to a $15MM-per-year contract, Williams — a first-team All-Pro in 2023 — is at just $6MM per. Williams is also set to play an age-29 season, potentially complicating a pursuit for a lucrative third contract in free agency.
While the Jets’ effort to improve — after the Aaron Rodgers period produced nothing of consequence — will draw the most attention, PFR’s pages will be monitoring Johnson and their batch of contract-year starters. The Glenn-Mougey duo will have big decisions to make by March, and it will be interesting to see how these respective contract years influence the team’s long-term thinking.
