The Jets were officially eliminated from playoff contention by virtue of today’s loss to the Dolphins. Of course, the 3-10 club – which came into the season with championship aspirations – has not looked like a viable contender at any point during the campaign, and it will go into the offseason at yet another organizational crossroads.
Gang Green will need to hire a new head coach and general manager and will need to make a final decision on the future of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. There are also plenty of high-profile, non-QB talents to monitor, including the top two wideouts on the team’s depth chart.
Davante Adams’ dissatisfaction with the Raiders’ quarterback situation led him to engineer a midseason trade to the Jets in the hopes that a reunion with Rodgers would help both players recapture some of the form they displayed as longtime teammates in Green Bay. In the immediate aftermath of the trade, Adams expressed his desire to remain with the Jets beyond 2024, though he has naturally become more non-committal in the waning days of another lost season.
When asked this week about his future with the club, Adams said, “[that’s] a great question, and I truly don’t have the answer to it right now” (via ESPN’s Rich Cimini).
Adams further indicated that his contract situation and Rodgers’ status would be factors in his New York future.
“I would love to be a part of this football team,” he said (via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com). “… I’d love to go to war with these guys, but it’s a business and there are a lot of pieces, contractually, and, obviously, with Aaron’s future — a lot of things that I can’t control. Hopefully, we do enough to where everybody’s feeling like it’s the right thing to do for us to stay here.”
Cimini, echoing recent reports, says that Rodgers is unlikely to be back with the team in 2025, which would encourage Adams to cut ties. Adams is still under club control through 2026 thanks to the Raiders-constructed deal that the Jets took on when they acquired him, but as Rapoport observes, the three-time First Team All-Pro controls his own destiny.
New York restructured Adams’ 2024 salary while leaving his 2025 and 2026 figures untouched, meaning that Adams is due base salaries of $35.6MM over each of the next two years. However, no portion of those salaries is guaranteed, and all parties know that the Jets will not retain Adams at those price points. Another restructure would therefore be necessary to keep the soon-to-be 32-year-old on the roster, but if Adams wants to leave, he can simply decline such a restructure – if the Jets even approach him about one – and effectively force his release.
Per Cimini, there has been no indication that Adams’ younger running mate, Garrett Wilson, is planning his own exit strategy by requesting a trade. The 2022 draftee is eligible for an extension at the end of the 2024 season, and though he continues to be one of Rodgers’ top targets, his production has declined in recent weeks. Unlike Adams, however, Wilson says his tenure with the Jets will be unaffected by Rodgers’ fate.
“No impact. No impact,” Wilson said. “I’ve been here with Aaron, and I’ve been here without him. No impact.”
The Jets rebuffed trade interest in Wilson at this year’s deadline, and the immensely talented 24-year-old is clearly a foundational piece upon which New York can rebuild. Wilson’s trade suitors were reportedly willing to offer him a new contract this offseason, and while the Jets could do the same, they can also control him at team-friendly rates through 2026 and franchise tag him in 2027. Speculatively, Wilson’s thoughts about requesting a trade could change if it becomes clear that his current employer is not interested in immediate extension negotiations.
For now, he is clearly suggesting that he will be back next year.
“[Whichever quarterback] they send me out there with (in 2025), I’m going to put my best foot forward and try to show that I belong, that I’m one of the guys in this league that’s a great player,” Wilson said. “So I just have to figure out a way to prove that. I thought it would be easier this year. It hasn’t been.”
Adams is probably following Rodgers if he goes to another team (that’s a whole ‘nother debate), but Wilson is almost definitely in New York’s future. The question is, would that future include an extension or a trade? Conventional wisdom says that it’s be ludicrous to trade him, and that no team would offer what it would take to pry Wilson away.
The caveat I would add, though, is that we have no idea who the Jets’ new GM is going to be. Whomever it is will not just be responsible for inheriting a lost locker room and haphazard roster, but also the owner who created this mess. Maybe a capable GM will take the job (after all, there are only 32), or maybe Johnson will hire someone with something to prove. Wilson will one year playing for his new coach/GM on this deal, and then a fifth year option, before needing a new deal, so any potential trade would simply be for picks and not to avoid a deal. It seems like that trade would be unnecessary, unless this new leader wants a complete reset. Either way, I don’t want to say that even Wilson is 100% safe, despite how much it seems like he should be.
I think the owners meddling would convince any capable GM to wait for a better opportunity.
Agreed.
Since when does a washed up WR get a say where he wants to play next?
same reason a random person can call him “washed” but doesn’t have any reasons on how he is.
Adams and Wilson were quite good in the Jets’ game at Miami. It was the defense that couldn’t stop the Dolphins, especially in OT.
It lowkey been D/ST that has been the major let down all year. Thats 3 times now Rodgers and Co has given the defense the lead in the back end of the 4th Q for them to either let up a game winning drive or in this case tying drive.