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Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff Writer
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — A look at what’s happening around the New York Jets:
1. Greats chime in: Three of the best wide receivers in team history were blown away by Garrett Wilson‘s spectacular touchdown catch in Thursday night’s 21-13 win over the Houston Texans.
“Best catch I’ve ever seen, better than anything I did,” said Wayne Chrebet, who witnessed it from a suite at MetLife Stadium. “I’m jealous, but I think it saved the season.”
Brandon Marshall was playing chess and watching on TV from his home in South Florida.
“He should put that on a T-shirt and sell it right away,” Marshall said in a text. “[It’s] the catch that turned the Jets’ season around and saved a lot of jobs.”
Wesley Walker was at his home in Arizona.
“I always link it to my own experiences, like, ‘Hey, there has to be some divine intervention there’ because sometimes you don’t know how you make a catch like that,” said Walker, second on the Jets’ all-time list for receiving yards.
Wilson’s 26-yard catch from quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the fourth quarter had only a 14% completion probability, per Next Gen Stats — roughly the same as the Jets’ playoff chances after the win (18.3%). A loss would’ve crushed their hopes.
(after review) HOLY ONE-HAND GARRETT FREAKING WILSON TOUCHDOOOOOWN❕❕❕#HOUvsNYJ on @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/htLVwK7TA6
— New York Jets (@nyjets) November 1, 2024
Chrebet, second in career receptions, marveled at the degree of difficulty.
“You’re up there, you’re just trying to get your hand on the ball and bring it in — which is hard enough — but to stop your body from rotating out of the end zone … I don’t know if someone who never tried to do that will realize how hard that is,” Chrebet said.
Wilson drew immediate comparisons to Odell Beckham Jr.’s catch 10 years ago in MetLife. Who had the better catch?
“Oh, my god, I could never say,” Walker said. “That’s like comparing athletes. Who’s the best? There is no one best. You’re just in awe that they were able to do that. I can’t say one is better than the other. They’re both iconic.”
2. Did you know? Wilson is the first player in Jets history with 60 receptions in the team’s first nine games of a season. Marshall holds the single-season record with 109.
3. Trader Joe: General manager Joe Douglas has a track record for being aggressive at the trading deadline, but this doesn’t feel like one of those years. After all, he already made a big splash — the Davante Adams trade on Oct. 15.
At 3-6, still clinging to their playoff hopes, the Jets certainly won’t be sellers before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline. One player drawing interest is wide receiver Mike Williams, but he apparently is staying put. They need him to fill the WR3 role now that Allen Lazard (chest) is on injured reserve for at least three more games.
“With Lazard playing less, obviously that’s a bigger [opportunity] for Mike,” interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said, “and, with more opportunities, I think he’ll become a bigger part of this offense.”
Williams is on the field a lot, but he doesn’t get targeted much — only four targets in the three games since the Adams trade. He’s this year’s Dalvin Cook — a high-profile addition, not on a cheap salary, struggling to find a niche.
4. New role: Adams is learning a new position on the fly. An “X” receiver (split end) for his entire career, he’s now playing the “Z” (flanker) position. Basically, the Z is known as the “move” receiver; he lines up off the line of scrimmage and can motion before the snap.
“That’s been the only change that we’ve had to get used to a little bit,” said Rodgers, who is trying to redevelop his chemistry with Adams after two-plus seasons apart.
It hasn’t been perfect. There were a couple of hiccups Thursday night (an overthrow and a drop), but you saw some of that old magic later in the game. Adams finished with seven catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, easily his best game of three as a Jet.
5. Old habits die hard: After the game, Adams referred to Rodgers as “12,” his Green Bay Packers number. He quickly corrected himself, saying, “Eight.”
“I’m still not used to that,” Adams said, smiling.
6. Cashing in: Good health is paying off for Tyron Smith — in a big way.
Because of his injury history, the former All-Pro left tackle had to settle for a heavily incentivized, one-year contract in free agency — $6.5 million in base pay, with another $12 million available in playing-time incentives.
Smith already has played enough (every snap through nine games) to qualify for the 50% playing-time threshold — $2.75 million. In other words, if he doesn’t play another snap, he walks away with $2.75 million in bonus money.
Now the big money starts to kick in.
The way the incentive package is structured, he basically will earn an extra $1 million per week for the next three games in addition to his base salary. At that point, it increases to an extra $1.25 million per week for the final five games — assuming he plays nearly all the snaps.
The incentive money will count for the 2025 cap.
Now this is where it gets interesting. What happens if the Jets fall out of contention and want to give first-round pick Olu Fashanu a look at left tackle? After all, he’s the heir apparent. If the Jets make the change, it will have significant financial implications for Smith.
7. Cashing in, part II: Edge rusher Haason Reddick is another player with a lot riding on playing time and performance incentives. In two games, he has played 49% of the defensive snaps. If he stays above 40%, he will earn a $791,628 incentive bonus, based on the adjusted contract he signed at the end of his holdout ahead of their Week 8 matchup with the New England Patriots.
He also needs eight sacks to reach a $500,000 bonus. That will be tough; he has 0.5 sacks with eight games to play.
8. Not-so-hot Sauce: Sauce Gardner, a first-team All-Pro in his first two seasons, rarely gets criticized. There have been some anonymous haters outside the organization, poking him for this or that, but it hasn’t been much. That’s why it jumped out the other day when Ulbrich called him out for his tackling.
“In all honesty — and we’ve had this conversation — it needs to be better, and he knows that,” Ulbrich said.
Gardner has the lowest tackling efficiency of their starting defensive backs — nine missed tackles in 39 attempts, a 76.9% rate, according to Next Gen Stats. His penalty total also is creeping up. He has been flagged a team-high six times, already more than his 2023 total (five).
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9. Light month: The Jets played their first nine games in a span of 53 days, including three games on short weeks. That’s tough on the body, especially if you’re a 40-year-old quarterback.
Well, Rodgers can look forward to a lighter workload in the coming weeks. The Jets have only two games in the month of November — at the Arizona Cardinals (Nov. 10) and home against the Indianapolis Colts (Nov. 17). Their bye is Nov. 24.
The schedule should help reduce the wear and tear on Rodgers, with help from his new cayenne pepper/water elixir.
10. The last word: “Yeah, Justin Jefferson was pretty good, but I haven’t seen a catch like that. Not in person.” — tight end Tyler Conklin, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings, on Wilson’s touchdown catch.