Jets' Garrett Wilson should be kept off the field until next season
The Jets' Garrett Wilson catches a pass during the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on Sep. 21. Credit: Getty Images/Julio Aguilar
It’s been almost two months since Garrett Wilson last caught a pass in an NFL game. The Jets would be wise to make sure he doesn’t catch another for about nine months more.
That would bring them to the start of the 2026 season when the star receiver can be fully healthy and act as the proper centerpiece of the passing offense.
Wilson first sprained his knee late in the Week 6 loss to the Broncos in London, missed the next two games, returned for the Week 10 game against the Browns after the bye, aggravated the knee while sliding in an attempt to haul in a pass from Justin Fields, and went on injured reserve on Nov. 13. Now, after missing four games, the window for Wilson to potentially return from injured reserve is eligible to be opened this week. Ironically it is just as the window on the Jets’ season has been slammed shut with their elimination from postseason consideration on Sunday.
“We’ll see about that when we talk to the docs,” head coach Aaron Glenn said on Monday of Wilson’s possible clearance. “That's medical. What the docs tell us is best for the player, that's what I go with.”
But why risk it? Even if Wilson’s knee is perfectly fine – and given that it was already injured then reinjured this season there is a very good chance it is not – the danger of it suffering further aggravation or, worse yet, the kind of structural damage that has so far been avoided should be too big a gamble for these Jets to take. And the benefits to him playing would be minimal. It’s not like he needs to build chemistry or rapport with the quarterbacks currently on the team since it’s unlikely any of them will be starting for the Jets next year. He certainly has nothing to prove regarding his production. Even while missing six of the last seven games, he still leads the team in receiving yards (395) and receiving touchdowns (4) and is second in receptions (36).
At this point the Jets need to be thinking about their future, and Wilson personifies that. After inking his extension in the summer he is under contract with the Jets through the 2030 season, making him the longest-signed player on the team. Whatever the Jets become in these next few years, Wilson is going to play a very big role in the evolution. When that story is ultimately written, no one is going to remember how he played against the Jaguars or Saints back at the end of that forgettable, fruitless 2025 season. What they will recall is how he performed in 2026 onward.
Glenn did leave open a little room for contemplation of those complicated parts of the equation.
“Those conversations are going to be with the doc and they're going to be with Garrett,” he said. “Once we nail down those conversations, a decision will be made after that.”
This wouldn’t be the first time medicine and business converged on a decision and a player stayed on IR because the team was mathematically eliminated. Two years ago Aaron Rodgers nearly returned from an in-season Achilles tear. He even started practicing with the team and had a three-week window to be put on the active roster. All he needed was for the Jets to remain in contention. They couldn’t do that and Rodgers didn’t play again until the following year.
This may be a tricky maneuver for a first-year coach trying to mush the rest of his sled dogs through this blizzard of a year. If Glenn comes out and says they are shutting down Wilson to save him for next year, what does that say to and about all the others who have to go out and play in those games? Glenn needs to continue forging the beginnings of a culture over the last four games of this season, a process that took a huge step backward after Sunday’s throttling from the Dolphins. He needs to inspire many of the young players on the team to play hard, be professionals, and keep showing up even though there is now an expiration date on the season. Somehow he managed to keep the team moving forward in the wake of the midseason trades of Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner. Overtly pulling Wilson away from the team in the name of a hereafter many of the current players may not even be around to see could crush whatever is left of morale. Yes, better to pin it on the injury… even if that’s only part of the picture.
Wilson may want to play, too. He's never missed any games prior to this season and his competitive juices almost certainly will be propelling him for a return. “It’s been tough, it’s been long,” he said back in early November when he was just coming back from the initial injury.
It’s been tougher and longer since.
As running back Breece Hall said Sunday of the remaining slate of games: “I like playing football, so it’s easy for me to stay motivated.” Wilson likely shares that philosophy. It’s what makes him such a good player.
But Hall isn’t under contract into the next decade. He isn’t even under contract for next season. Wilson is.
This is one of those times when the team needs to protect itself and protect the player from himself. Get Wilson to OTAs and training camp and running summer routes with whoever next year’s quarterback is going to be in as good a shape as possible.
Shelve Wilson now, thank yourself later.
Notes & quotes: The Jets signed DL Kingsley Jonathan to the practice squad on Tuesday. Jonathan was with the Jets throughout the preseason.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
