Now that’s what we want to hear. It would have been really silly given the current look of the roster for the Jets to not forcefeed Wilson — we’re talking about a depth chart where Allen Lazard is an easy second — but it’s always good to hear some validation behind the idea. The overall talent level of the Jets offense may cap Wilson’s ceiling, but he looks like a great bet to rebound from a down 2024 spent watching Aaron Rodgers throw at other targets.

The Jets drafted Wilson (No. 10 overall) and Gardner (No. 4 overall) in the 2022 NFL Draft, which means both players are scheduled to hit free agency after the 2025 NFL season. Both players can be retained for the 2026 NFL season via their first-round contract’s fifth-year option, but the deadline to activate the option is May 1st. The 2025 NFL Draft takes place April 24th-April 26th. Jets general manager Darren Mougey can, of course, continue long-term negotiations after activating the option, but the May 1st activation date still serves as a soft deadline of sorts.

This is news because of Wilson’s not-so-secret stances about Aaron Rodgers and how Rodgers refused to throw him the football. Wilson spent most of the end of last season contemplating a trade request, though not strongly enough to be able to voice it to the media himself. There doesn’t appear to be a push for this to happen before free agency, per Rosenblatt, who guesses that Wilson could sign for “somewhere in the range of $26-30 million per season” and notes that talking about an extension “would go a long way toward making him feel like the organization values him.” The Jets should probably get to this sooner rather than later unless they’d rather trade Wilson this offseason.