Jets Rumors

Latest On Aaron Rodgers, Jets QB Depth

As the Jets continue to work on a new deal with Aaron Rodgers, the team is also considering other moves at the position. GM Joe Douglas told reporters that the organization could consider bringing back veteran Joe Flacco next season.

[RELATED: Jets, Aaron Rodgers Working Towards Restructured Contract]

“We’re always going to keep the door open when any good player is available,” Douglas said (via ESPN’s Rich Cimini on Twitter).

Flacco completed his third season with the Jets in 2022 (minus a brief stint with the Eagles). He actually got his most run this past year, completing 57.6 percent of his passes for 1,051 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions in five games (four starts). The veteran ended up starting nine games across three seasons with the organization, guiding the team to an 1-8 record while in the starting lineup.

The former Super Bowl MVP was initially signed to be the backup to Sam Darnold, and he was reacquired to play behind Zach Wilson. If Flacco were to re-sign with New York, he’d now be competing with Wilson for that QB2 spot behind Rodgers. The Jets are also rostering Tim Boyle and Chris Streveler at the position.

Meanwhile, the Jets continue to work with Rodgers on resolving his cap situation for both the 2023 and 2024 seasons. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com points out, the Jets were surprised to learn that the QB had previously pushed the entirety of his fully-guaranteed $58.3MM option bonus to the 2024 season. As a result, Rodgers is eyeing a minimum salary commitment for 2023 and a untenable $107.55MM worth of compensation for 2024.

“We knew at the end of the trade that Aaron and Green Bay needed to work some things out,” Douglas told Florio. “We didn’t know the exact ramifications. It was just important to us that the cap number wasn’t going to go higher than it was at the time that we agreed to it. We didn’t know that it was actually going to go down to the minimum, so when they re-did the deal, you know, we saw the new number, knew that we saw that it was low for this year. We’re still working on restructuring aspects of the deal as we speak, but we feel like we’re in a really good place.”

There have been some questions about how long Rodgers intends to keep playing, with some wondering if his stint in New York may only last one season. As Florio notes, if Rodgers hopes to sniff a large chunk of that $107.5MM, he’ll likely have to commit to a new two-year pact with the Jets, locking him in through the 2024 campaign.

Minor NFL Transactions: 5/16/23

XFL additions and other post-rookie minicamp moves led to some action on the waiver wire Tuesday. As other teams add talent from the latest XFL effort, here are the latest NFL moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: FB Zach Ojile, OL Sam Schlueter

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

A former 60-meter dash finalist at the U.S. Indoor Track and Field Championships, Guidry has bounced around the league. But the Jets are bringing back the young cornerback. Guidry played 28 games for the team from 2020-21. A fellow DB, Westry started two games for the Ravens in 2021; he will relocate to Cleveland.

Jackson, Jennings and Thomas all played in the XFL this season and auditioned for the Panthers at their recent rookie minicamp. The Panthers tried Thomas at both tight end and linebacker over the weekend. Although Thomas played in the most recent XFL effort, he was in Colts camp — under current Panthers HC Frank Reich — in 2021. This is Jennings’ seventh NFL stop. The former Seahawks fourth-round pick has not played in the NFL since his 2019 rookie year in Seattle.

Romo joins a Lions team carrying Michael Badgley as its incumbent kicker. The younger specialist has not yet kicked in an NFL game, but the former Virginia Tech kicker played in the XFL this season, making 17 of 19 field goal tries. This included a 57-yarder.

Minor NFL Transactions: 5/15/23

The first of this year’s spring leagues to debut, the XFL’s third effort, finished its season Saturday. XFL players are now free to sign NFL contracts, and several agreed to terms Monday. Here are those agreements, along with the other transactions from around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

  • Signed: T BJ Wilson

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

  • Signed: RB Tyreik McAllister, RB Jacques Patrick
  • Waived: WR Dallas Daniels, DB Darrious Gaines, TE Kris Leach, RB Emanuel Wilson

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

After seeing the pandemic nix its second effort in 2020, the XFL concluded its season Saturday. The Broncos signed the league’s second-leading rusher, in Patrick, while the Browns and Cowboys offered Barqoo contracts, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler tweets. Barqoo, who played for the Jaguars in 2020 and XFL’s San Antonio Brahmas this year, opted for the Steelers’ offer. Patrick, whom the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson notes passed a Broncos physical Monday, finished with 443 rushing yards and five touchdowns. He joins XFL passing leader Ben DiNucci as a Broncos May addition.

Seeing time for the St. Louis BattleHawks, Jones-Smith played in three games apiece with Raiders and Ravens, respectively, from 2020-21. Thompson will join the Dolphins after a spring tour of duty with the Seattle Sea Dragons, while fellow XFL alum Brewer played in two games for the Bills last year. Heflin played five games for the Packers in 2021; the new Saint spent the XFL season with the Houston Roughnecks.

The Raiders gave Johnson a reserve/futures deal in January. The young wideout collected a ring with the 2020 Buccaneers and totaled 360 receiving yards for Tampa Bay’s 2021 iteration. While the Texans claimed him on waivers ahead of last season, he played in just two games with the team.

Jackson suited up for national championship-winning Georgia last season. The new Titans wideout finished with 514 receiving yards in 2020 and totaled 320 for last season’s Bulldogs edition. A Division II Quincy alum, Wilson received an East-West Shrine Bowl invite but tore an Achilles tendon late last season.

Jets Release OL Cedric Ogbuehi

Less than a month after re-signing Cedric Ogbuehi, the Jets have let him go. ESPN’s Field Yates reports (via Twitter) that the Jets have released the veteran offensive lineman.

Ogbuehi re-signed with the Jets in April, inking a one-year, $1.3MM deal that included an $120K signing bonus. However, plenty has changed since the lineman inked that pact. The Jets added an offensive tackle in Billy Turner, and while the front office missed out on their preferred first-round OT targets, they still selected Carter Warren in the fourth round. Both of those moves ultimately made Ogbuehi expendable, and the Jets are presumably letting him go so he can find a landing spot before training camp.

The lineman was a first-round pick by the Bengals back in 2015, but he only lasted four seasons in Cincinnati while starting 25 of his 35 appearances. He’s bounced around a bit since the 2019 campaign, spending time with the Jaguars, Seahawks, Ravens, and Jets.

He was signed by the Jets off the Texans practice squad last September and proceeded to start five of his seven appearances for his new squad. He had a brief stint on the IR with a groin injury before returning for the final stretch of the season. Ogbuehi didn’t earn enough snaps to qualify for Pro Football Focus’ OT rankings, but he would have been listed towards the bottom of the league had he earned enough snaps.

Allen Lazard Contacted Jets About FA Deal

The Aaron Rodgers-to-New York timeline became clearer this week, and one of the new Jets quarterback’s longtime teammates was ready to make the jump from the NFL’s smallest market to its biggest quickly.

Rodgers’ agent informed Jets GM Joe Douglas his client intended to sign off on a trade — rather than retire — shortly after midnight on March 13. That intel came hours before the start of this year’s legal tampering period; Allen Lazard revealed his preferred destination early in the unofficial free agency stretch. The four-year Packers receiver contacted the Jets shortly after hearing rumblings of the Rodgers news, Albert Breer of SI.com notes (on Twitter).

Lazard, whom the Packers picked up off the Jaguars’ practice squad in December 2018, had his agent call Douglas once the tampering period began, Breer adds. Upon hearing word Rodgers was on track to eventually become the Jets’ quarterback, Lazard declared his interest in following him to the Big Apple. Following Lazard’s pitch, the process accelerated quickly and was finalized before Rodgers publicly confirmed his intentions to play for the Jets.

The Jets made their Lazard commitment official on March 14, giving the former Davante Adams sidekick a four-year deal worth $44MM ($22MM fully guaranteed). This agreement came hours after the report of Rodgers’ wish list surfaced. While Rodgers and Robert Saleh have attempted to debunk that report, the Jets have added two ex-Rodgers teammates (Lazard and Randall Cobb) and made a strong push for Rodgers-backed wideout Odell Beckham Jr. Marcedes Lewis was also believed to be a Rodgers-driven target, though the soon-to-be 39-year-old veteran has yet to sign.

The Broncos are one of the teams that also pursued Lazard, who matched Jakobi Meyers in terms of AAV in this year’s much-maligned receiver class. Despite not landing Beckham, the Jets have remade their receiver room around Rodgers. Lazard, Cobb and Mecole Hardman have joined the sudden free agent destination. Garrett Wilson is still the centerpiece of this receiving corps, and while Corey Davis has lingered as a cut candidate, both Douglas and Saleh have indicated the contract-year receiver remains in the team’s plans.

Gang Green’s Lazard deal got the ball rolling, however, with the Elijah Moore trade soon to follow. Rodgers began working out with Lazard before the trade was finalized. Lazard’s guarantees cover 2024, and Rodgers said he views this trade as the groundwork for a multiyear partnership. While the future Hall of Famer has stopped short of committing he will play beyond this season, Lazard being locked down through 2024 would represent one of the reasons for a return next year.

Jets, Steelers Address First-Round Decisions

While the past two weeks have brought one of the more notable stretches of positive Jets publicity in recent NFL history, their Aaron Rodgers-driven momentum has experienced a speedbump. The pick-swap component of the Rodgers trade is widely believed to have cost the Jets the offensive lineman they coveted.

Robert Saleh attempted to provide a counterstrike against the notion the Steelers’ three-spot trade-up — for Georgia tackle Broderick Jones — cost the Jets their preferred pick. Part of the Rodgers trade involved the Jets swapping first-round picks with the Packers, dropping from No. 13 to No. 15, and the Steelers’ trade-up maneuver ensured the draft’s top tackles were gone by the time the Jets’ pick arrived. Gang Green took edge rusher Will McDonald at No. 15.

The difference between 13 and 15 and the way everything shook out made no difference to us,” Saleh said during an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show (video link). … We’re always going to take the best player available when it presents itself. I think what surprised everybody is that you could make an argument the best available wasn’t a need. It doesn’t change what you do, but for the last two years, everybody we drafted seemed to be a need.”

The Jets added McDonald to an edge group that includes Carl Lawson, 2022 first-round pick Jermaine Johnson and versatile veteran John Franklin-Myers. Lawson’s contract expires after this season, potentially positioning the Jets to use Johnson and McDonald as their longer-term edge starters. For 2023, however, McDonald may not be a starter.

Pittsburgh did view New York as eyeing Jones at No. 15, and GM Omar Khan said the team was leery about other teams moving ahead of its No. 17 draft slot for Jones. Assistant Steelers GM Andy Weidl worked with Jets GM Joe Douglas with the Ravens and Eagles, and Khan mentioned pro personnel director Sheldon White‘s contributions when it came time for Steelers brass to determine which teams were threats for Jones.

No, no inside information, but we have Sheldon White, who’s our director of pro, does a really good job of preparing us leading into the draft as to what every team-specific needs are and what he believes their priorities are,” Khan said, via Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. “And it wasn’t just the Jets, but there were teams behind us that we had the same concern that they might come up and had a need for an offensive tackle that might come up and trade up to get Broderick.

“Again, when the opportunity was there, we just didn’t want to take the chance of waiting to see if he was there or not. But we had no inside info that’s who the Jets were gonna take. It’s just a hunch.”

It required only a fourth-round pick for the Steelers to move up three spots, via the Patriots, in Round 1. It took the Eagles a fourth to move up one spot in the first round (for Jalen Carter), and the Bills a fourth to climb two positions (for Dalton Kincaid). Some have labeled the Patriots as being eager to allow a team to leapfrog the Jets for Jones — who received high marks from Gang Green during his “30” visit. Khan said he did not discuss the Jets component during trade talks with the Patriots.

The Steelers, who had made just one first-round trade-up (for Devin Bush, in 2019) over the past 15 drafts, added Jones to likely replace two-year starter Dan Moore at left tackle. Georgia’s 2022 left-side starter, via The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo, is more likely to supplant Moore than right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor, who may be a better bet to remain a starter once Jones is up to speed (subscription required). Pro Football Focus rated Moore and Okorafor outside the top 50 at tackle last season. Okorafor has operated as Pittsburgh’s starting right tackle for the past three seasons.

Packers Sought Russell Wilson-Type Haul For Aaron Rodgers; Jets Debated Stronger Derek Carr Push

Aaron Rodgers has begun attending Jets offseason workouts, but it took an extensive process for the Packers to move him off their roster. The teams had different goals when they begun negotiations.

The Packers initially sought a trade package comparable to the haul the Seahawks received for Russell Wilson or the Lions picked up for Matthew Stafford, Brian Costello of the New York Post reports. But with Rodgers moving out of the picture in Green Bay, the Jets were never expected to pay what it would have likely cost the Broncos (or another suitor) to pry Rodgers from the Packers in 2021 or ’22. Still, the lag time between the first Rodgers-related discussion between Packers GM Brian Gutekunst and Jets counterpart Joe Douglas — in January, when the latter represented the only interested party among those Gutekunst contacted — led to some uncertainty.

Just before Derek Carr committed to the Saints, Jets brass debated if they should make a stronger push for the longtime Raiders quarterback, Costello adds. The Jets hosted Carr in February and met with him again at the Combine. Though, Gang Green viewed the 10th-year veteran as its Rodgers backup plan throughout the process. With the Jets not knowing until March 12 Rodgers was even planning to play in 2023, they saw their top backup plan vanish when Carr signed with the Saints on March 6.

Shortly after the Jets hired Nathaniel Hackett as OC — a move widely rumored to be a Rodgers-related decision — Robert Saleh instructed his staff to study Jimmy Garoppolo and Ryan Tannehill, SI.com’s Albert Breer notes. The former 49ers starter surfaced as a Jets option, while the longtime Titans first-stringer has been involved in trade rumors this year. But the Jets waited out Rodgers and received confirmation, via the four-time MVP’s agent contacting Douglas, his client was onboard with the Jets.

The Packers could have obtained more in a trade for Rodgers had they unloaded him in 2021 or ’22, but Jordan Love had not progressed to the point the team was ready to roll with the former No. 26 overall pick. Gutekunst sought to tell Rodgers the Packers planned to field a younger roster this season and make moves to help their salary cap, per Breer, with this meaning Rodgers favorites Randall Cobb, Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis would not be back. (Cobb is now a Jet, with Lewis potentially on the team’s radar.) Of course, Gutekunst and Rodgers never got around to a meeting regarding his future. The parties had multiple January meetings in California scheduled, Breer adds; neither came to fruition. Gutekunst dealt with Rodgers’ agent during the trade talks.

As for the trade price, one of the Jets’ counterproposals — during the sides’ off-and-on talks — involved a 2025 Packers second-round pick coming back in the event Rodgers did not return in 2024. The March Rodgers-Jets summit did not involve discussion about how much longer Rodgers would play, though that later became an understandable component of the Jets’ trade push. Instead of the Jets receiving a 2025 second from the Packers — in the event Rodgers retires after this season — the teams agreed on the deal that included the 2024 first-rounder being a conditional pick and not a locked-in 1, Breer adds. That said, Rodgers has only failed to play 65% of his team’s offensive snaps twice in his 15-year starter run. It represents a fairly safe bet the Jets will send the Packers their 2024 first-rounder in this swap.

Rather than the 65% figure, the Jets wanted to tie the 2024 draft choice to team placement, per Breer. But the Packers did this in the Brett Favre trade 15 years ago; the Green Bay icon’s biceps injury ended up leading the Jets out of the playoff race and reducing the Pack’s compensation to a 2009 third-rounder. With Packers president Mark Murphy involved in both negotiations, the Packers did not relent on a refusal to tie the pick to the Jets’ 2023 record.

Douglas was a bit leery about a potential post-draft suitor emerging as an alternative for Rodgers, Breer adds. The Jets had lost Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins in a two-team race last year. The All-Pro wideout was nearly a Jet, but when the Dolphins entered the fray, Miami became Hill’s preferred destination. This helped provide the impetus for the Jets to complete the deal by the draft, even as no other teams were closely connected to Rodgers this offseason.

The 2023 pick-swap component also did not enter the negotiations until late. That turned out to matter, with many believing the Jets were prepared to draft tackle Broderick Jones in Round 1. The Steelers moved up three spots, from No. 17 to No. 14, to prevent that from happening. New York selected edge rusher Will McDonald with its Green Bay-obtained No. 15 pick. The Packers chose Iowa pass rusher Lukas Van Ness at 13.

Jets, WR Randall Cobb Agree To Terms

MAY 8: Details on the one-year Cobb deal are in, courtesy of ESPN’s Field Yates (Twitter link). The veteran will earn a base salary of $2.25MM, with another $1MM available through incentives. Cobb’s cap hit for the year will be $2.89MM, meaning he will be a relatively inexpensive pass-catching option for the Jets’ Rodgers-led offense, especially if they can continue their shared success with one another dating back to their time in Green Bay.

MAY 3, 5:34pm: Checking another box on Rodgers’ wish list, the Jets made it official with Cobb Wednesday afternoon. While terms have not yet surfaced, Cobb is following Rodgers, Lazard and Hackett to the Big Apple.

8:11am: Unable to land Odell Beckham Jr., the Jets are circling back to Aaron Rodgers‘ free agency wish list. They are planning to reunite Rodgers with Randall Cobb, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

Cobb has played 10 of his 12 NFL seasons with the Packers, enjoying two stints with the team. Upon ending a months-long standoff with Green Bay in 2021, Rodgers insisted on the team reacquiring Cobb via trade. The new Jets quarterback will once again move a team to bring the veteran wide receiver aboard. This will be a one-year deal.

[RELATED: Jets To Sign OL Billy Turner]

The Rodgers wish list already led to Allen Lazard coming to the Big Apple. Lazard joined the Jets weeks before Rodgers, but ex-Cobb teammate’s $11MM-per-year deal provided a strong indication the four-time MVP would eventually be en route. Unlike the past two offseasons, Rodgers has been present at OTAs for his team. Cobb, who is going into his age-33 season, may well join Rodgers and Lazard for voluntary Jets workouts soon.

Counting the playoffs, Davante Adams‘ 687 receptions are the most by a Rodgers target (per ESPN Stats and Info); Cobb’s 534 grabs sit second on that list. The former Packers second-round pick developed a quick chemistry with the future Hall of Fame quarterback, and while Cobb’s second Green Bay stay did not produce the numbers his first did, but he will accompany Lazard in bringing scheme familiarity to the Jets. Cobb spent the past two seasons in the offense OC Nathaniel Hackett is installing.

Despite missing four games last season, Cobb caught 34 passes for 417 yards and a touchdown. The proven slot receiver scored five TDs during his 2021 season back in Wisconsin. The Packers gave Cobb a four-year, $40MM contract back in 2015, which came after his lone 1,000-yard campaign. Cobb played out that deal before the team allowed him to sign with the Cowboys in free agency. Cobb spent the 2019 and ’20 seasons in Texas, signing with Houston on a three-year, $27MM deal in 2020. The Packers absorbed that deal in 2021 but reached a pay-cut agreement with Cobb last year.

Following the Packers’ Week 18 home loss to the Lions, Cobb and Rodgers walked off the field together. It quickly became expected Cobb — whose 532 catches as a Packer rank fifth in team history — was done in Green Bay, but his longtime quarterback pulled some strings to allow for this partnership to last another year. While this expected Jets accord comes after the deadline for signings to affect the 2024 compensatory formula, Cobb is unlikely to sign a needle-moving contract with the Jets.

This could complete the Jets’ wide receiver overhaul effort. Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson is back, but the team has added Lazard and Mecole Hardman already. Elijah Moore is now in Cleveland, via trade, while the team released slot player/return man Braxton Berrios, who is now in Miami. Although rumblings tied the Jets to a Corey Davis release, the former top-five pick remains with the team. Ditto Denzel Mims, who has stood as a longtime trade candidate.

Jets GM Joe Douglas reaffirmed Davis’ status with the team ahead of the draft, and the team did not select any wideouts. The seventh-year veteran certainly supplies potential firepower as a complementary option. The team’s three-year, $37.5MM Davis pact has not produced numbers on par with the former top prospect’s Titans work, but Davis and Cobb have nine combined 600-plus-yard receiving seasons on their respective resumes.

This Cobb agreement floods the Jets’ receiver room with experience, and it will be interesting to see if it affects Davis, who is tied to an $11.2MM cap hit in the final year of his contract. The Jets can release Davis and save $10.5MM. With Lazard and Cobb set to reunite, it should be expected the Jets are considering a Marcedes Lewis addition. The four-year Packer also appeared on Rodgers’ list of hopeful Jets acquisitions in March.

Jets Rumors: OL, Rodgers, Hennessy, Brownlee, Duvernay-Tardif

The Jets landed a gamechanger at quarterback this spring, and now it’s up to them to figure out how to protect him. Head coach Robert Saleh made sure to communicate that the plan is to play the five best linemen, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post, clarifying that the center and tackle spots, specifically, will be open for competition.

The guard spots are presumably safe. Despite a down year for Laken Tomlinson, the Jets signed him to a three-year deal last year to start at guard. After an admirable rookie year as a starter, Alijah Vera-Tucker put together a strong start to his sophomore season last year, even being forced into playing tackle due to injuries before a torn triceps injury of his own sidelined him for the rest of the year. Confirming earlier reports, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post recently reported that Vera-Tucker is still on track to return from his injury by training camp.

At tackle, Mekhi Becton is also slated to return in time for training camp after missing all but one game of last season due to an avulsion fracture of his right knee. Duane Brown mostly held down the left tackle position while right tackle was mostly handled by Vera-Tucker, Max Mitchell, and George Fant. Fant departed as a free agent, but the team brought in veteran tackle Billy Turner from Denver who can compete for the position, as well.

At center, Connor McGovern has handled starting duties in New York for the last three years, grading out as a top 10 center in the league in each of the past two seasons, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). The Jets only re-signed McGovern to a one-year contract, though, so it may not be so surprising that his job is open for competition. That point was further dictated by New York drafting one of the top center prospects in the draft, Wisconsin’s Joe Tippmann, in the second round as the first center off the board. Despite McGovern’s recent years of success, Tippmann may represent the future at the position for the Jets.

Here are a few more rumors surrounding Gang Green this offseason:

  • Speaking of the Aaron Rodgers acquisition, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer indicated that Rodgers playing two more years was reportedly a big part of the team’s discussions with him before the trade. That supposed dedication was only reinforced when Rodgers claimed that he would participate in offseason workouts. Many veterans don’t feel the need to attend such workouts, but considering Rodgers is new to the facility, NBC Sports’ Mike Florio’s report that he plans on being present for “more than half” of the remaining offseason workouts is encouraging for Jets fans.
  • New York recently re-signed long snapper Thomas Hennessy to a four-year extension. The new deal, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2, has a value of $5.97MM. The deal has a guaranteed amount of $1.96MM consisting of an $875K signing bonus and Hennessy’s first year base salary of $1.08MM. $670K of his 2024 salary is guaranteed for injury at signing, and the rest of the $1.21MM will become fully guaranteed on the fifth league day of the 2024 season. He’s set for base salaries of $1.26MM in 2025, $1.3MM in 2026, and $1.35MM in 2027, but the contract has a potential out built in after this season that would allow the Jets to cut Hennessy after this year with only $700K of dead cap.
  • The Jets recently included Southern Mississippi wide receiver Jason Brownlee in their group of undrafted free agents. New York was clearly eager to ink Brownlee, giving the rookie a $246K guarantee, according to Rich Cimini of ESPN. That amount is the equivalent of the guarantee given to a low fifth-round pick.
  • With all their offensive line suffering so many injuries last year, the Jets were happy to have the help of veteran Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Now, with his contract expired, Duvernay-Tardif may have set his sights past football. The medical school graduate has been spinning several plates since the season ended, working shifts in the emergency department of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, starting a Masters of Public Health program at Harvard, and promoting a French skin care brand. Still, while Duvernay-Tardif maintains that medicine is still his future, he hasn’t committed to retiring claiming that he’s still in shape “if the phone rings in October.”

Jets, DT Quinnen Williams Not Close On Extension

The Jets and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams are “not close” to an agreement on a contract extension, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini. As he said he would, Williams is staying away from the team as part of his efforts to secure a new deal.

It would seem that the framework for such a deal is largely in place thanks to the recent accords struck by Williams’ DT draftmates, Jeffery Simmons and Dexter Lawrence. Last month, Simmons signed a four-year, $94MM extension with the Titans that features $66MM in guaranteed money, and Lawrence and the Giants agreed to a four-year, $90MM re-up that includes $60MM in guarantees. In March, Daron Payne — who entered the league in 2018, one year before the Williams/Simmons/Lawrence trio — signed a four-year, $90MM deal with the Commanders. Like Lawrence, Payne received $60MM in guarantees.

As the market for young, high-end defensive tackles includes so many recent comparables, it is somewhat surprising that Williams and Gang Green still have a large gap to bridge in their negotiations. That is especially true in light of the fact that ownership has given GM Joe Douglas plenty of wiggle room in contract talks, and considering Douglas’ comments at the end of February.

We’ve had several good discussions with (Williams’s agent, Nicole Lynn) and Quinnen since the season,” Douglas said at the time. “We feel really good about where we’re at. We feel good that this process is going to play out in the right way.”

Perhaps Williams is pushing for more guarantees and/or a larger AAV since he, as opposed to his newly-extended peers, has a First Team All-Pro nod on his resume (although Simmons boasts two Pro Bowl bids to Williams’ one). It could also be that the team is attempting to maximize the leverage it has by virtue of the franchise tag, which it could deploy to keep Williams in the fold in 2024. Of course, the Titans and Giants also had the threat of the tag at their disposal, and Payne had already been tagged when he signed his deal. Plus, as Cimini writes, it does not do the Jets any good to risk jeopardizing their relationship with one of their foundational players.

To be clear, Cimini does not suggest that the relationship between player and team is in a bad place, only that there is still plenty of work to be done to reach an agreement. And although Williams had indicated that he wanted to have a deal completed by the start of voluntary workouts in April, it does not sound as if the passing of that self-imposed deadline has stalled negotiations in any way.

Williams, who will not turn 26 until December, set new career-highs in sacks (12) and quarterback hits (28) in 2022, and he also earned a strong 77.7 rush defense grade from Pro Football Focus. PFF considered Williams the fourth-best interior defender last season, two spots behind Lawrence but above Simmons (10th-best) and well ahead of Payne (60th-best).