No more Mr. Nice Guy.
For the first time since his contract became an issue a year ago, Muhammad Wilkerson is putting himself ahead of the team by deciding to skip the start of the New York Jets' offseason program. He has every right to feel this way. It's a miniprotest, a justifiable message to the Jets' front office that he's not happy with the glacial pace of his contract negotiations.
Wilkerson was a good soldier last season, saying he considered it unbecoming of a team leader to stage a contract holdout. He showed up and played for a below-market salary ($1.2 million), never whining about how he wanted a new contract. He showed his commitment to the organization in December when he returned from a painful turf toe injury with only two games remaining in a lost season. It would've been easy to shut it down, especially with his contract situation, but he insisted it's not in his DNA to sit out.
So now he's entering the final year of his contract, wondering when (if?) he will get a long-term extension. Wilkerson watched last year as other defensive linemen in his draft class, J.J. Watt and Robert Quinn, landed big-time deals with their respective teams. Former general manager John Idzik, who guarded Woody Johnson's money like a sentry at the U.S. Mint, never showed urgency to get a deal done.
New GM Mike Maccagnan, the beneficiary of Idzik's frugal approach, has no choice but to spend money, per the league's minimum-spending requirement -- and he's throwing around some serious cash. The Jets have doled out about $90 million in guaranteed money, including an obscene $39 million to Darrelle Revis. So Wilkerson, loyal Jet, is wondering, "What about me?" They still have $12 million in cap room, including Wilkerson's $6.969 million salary. In other words, there's enough space to make Wilkerson happy.
Maccagnan said as recently as last week that Wilkerson is a valued member of the team and that he intends to focus on the contract after the draft. He's right; the priority should be the draft. When it's over, the Jets will have nearly three months to negotiate before training camp.
So Wilkerson's no-show isn't cause for panic. It's important to remember these workouts are voluntary, so he can't be fined by the team. The first mandatory team activity is June 9, the second minicamp.
Take a deep breath, folks; this isn't Revis-ugly, circa 2010. But at the same time, it's a fairly loud statement, one of the best players on the team deciding to skip the start of the new coach's offseason program. Wilkerson's absence is the first blemish for Todd Bowles. Welcome to the big office, Coach.
Chances are Wilkerson will get a new deal by the start of the regular season, assuming both sides are willing and fair. Maccagnan doesn't have much of a track record, but he certainly comes across as a GM who wants to keep the fan base happy -- and the fans want to see Wilkerson in green for a long time. He's one of the top 3-4 defensive ends in the league, a vital piece in the team's future. He deserves to be one of the highest-paid defensive linemen in the league, probably just south of Watt ($16.7 million per year) and Quinn ($14.2 million).
The worst-case scenario? Wilkerson plays out the final year and gets slapped with a franchise tag next year. Actually, the absolute worst-case scenario is everything falls apart and the Jets put him on the trading block, traveling the Revis road once again.
That's a long way from happening. It's only April 6, and Wilkerson isn't missing anything of significance. But Big Mo, a man of few words, is saying plenty with his absence.
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/50419/mo-wilkerson-man-of-few-words-says-plenty-by-skipping-workouts
Corey Griffin