It’s decision day
Wilkerson Jets tenure likely done
If Muhammad Wilkerson has played his last game as a Jet, we should find out Wednesday.
Coach Todd Bowles was noncommittal Monday when asked about Wilkerson’s future, but the team reconvenes Wednesday for their first practice of the week. The Jets could deactivate the defensive lineman on Wednesday morning before their meetings for the week begin.
“It’s an internal thing,” Bowles said Monday. “We’re still working through some things and we’ll go from there.”
It was a telling answer from Bowles, who would have just said Wilkerson will be back this week if the Jets intended on playing him again. Wilkerson was left home this past weekend after he was late for a meeting on Friday. His agent said Wilkerson contacted the team to tell them he would be late because of a matter with his child, but apparently Bowles felt his excuse was not valid.
Wilkerson has repeatedly been late over the three years of Bowles’ tenure with the Jets. It appears Bowles has had enough. The Jets likely delayed the decision a few days to check with the NFL and the players’ association on how they can handle the situation.
The most likely outcome is the Jets telling Wilkerson to go home for the final two weeks of the season. He would still get paid, but would be inactive and told not to come to the team’s headquarters for meetings or practices.
If the Jets go down another avenue, such as suspending him without pay or placing him on injured reserve, Wilkerson may be able to fight them.
The Jets have a financial reason for not playing Wilkerson beyond the punitive reasons. His $16.75 million salary for 2018 is not guaranteed until the third day of the league year in March, meaning the Jets can cut him before then and not owe him any money. However, the full 2018 salary is guaranteed for injury, so if Wilkerson suffered a serious injury in the final two games, the Jets would be on the hook for his salary next year.
If this is it for Wilkerson, it is a sad ending to what could have been a great Jets career. The 2011 first-round pick made the Pro Bowl in 2015, but regressed after a leg injury that ended that season. The Jets gave him a five-year, $86 million contract in the summer of 2016. It now looks as if he won’t even make it through two years of that deal.