Wilkerson claims he ‘earned’ money

BY THE end of this season, the Jets will have paid defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson $37 million over the past two years. In return, they’ve received a chronically late under-performer who has repeatedly violated and disrespected the immense trust placed in him by the franchise.

Still, on Wednesday in Florham Park, speaking for the first time since he was benched and left home for the Jets’ loss to the Saints in New Orleans this past weekend, Wilkerson refuted the notion that he failed to live up to the contract he signed before 2016.

“I feel like I’ve earned everything I’ve gotten,” said Wilkerson, who practiced fully Wednesday. Why? “Because I feel like I’ve earned it,” Wilkerson responded.

His play on the field and actions off it tell a different story, though.

Wilkerson has eight sacks in 28 games since he inked the five-year, $86 million deal after 2015, when he led the Jets with 12 sacks. He’s been benched for tardiness four times in the past three seasons, including twice this month.

Todd Bowles also sat out Wilkerson for the first quarter of the Jets’ win over the Chiefs on Dec. 3 at MetLife Stadium, after he arrived late to a meeting. Wilkerson committed the same offense Friday before the Jets flew south to play the Saints.

When asked Wednesday if he feels like Jets fans should still trust him, Wilkerson said, “Next question.” The 28-year-old gave the same response when asked if he thinks he let the organization down.

Despite his transgressions, Wilkerson believes he’s a still a “leader” in the Jets locker room.

“I feel like I’m a leader because of the things I’ve done, you know, helping, you know, build this organization,” said Wilkerson, who the Jets drafted in the first round of the 2011 draft.

Wilkerson’s agent Chad Wiestling attempted to blame Todd Bowles last week for his client’s latest off-field mistake. Wilkerson refused to address that topic Wednesday. Bowles said he’s “not going to get into that.”

The reality is Wilkerson’s days at One Jets Drive are numbered. A team source told the Daily News on Dec. 7 that Wilkerson is “gone” after this season, more than a week before his latest rules violation. A second benching only drove the stake deeper.

The Jets will save $11 million in cap space if they release Wilkerson before the third day of the league year in March. They’ll incur a $9 million dead-money charge, but the move would still raise their total cap room for this offseason above $90 million.

Wilkerson said he is “happy” being a part of the Jets, but “that’s up to the coaches and that’s up to the organization if I’m going to be here or not” after this season.

“I let the team down,” Wilkerson added. “I respect what coach did.”

Bowles said he has not yet determined if Wilkerson will play Sunday when the Chargers come to East Rutherford.

“We’ll decide that at the end of the week like everybody else,” Bowles said.

The smart move for the Jets is to sit Wilkerson for the final two games. If Wilkerson suffers a catastrophic injury before the end of this season, his 2018 salary of $16.75 million becomes guaranteed.

When asked Wednesday if the Jets have considered these potential financial ramifications, Bowles said, “We’ll discuss everything as the week goes on.”

“We talked about a lot of things,” Bowles added. “But he served his sentence.

“Guys make mistakes during the year. To say that Mo was the only one late during the year or anything else like that, we’d be sitting here lying. But you discipline the players as you see fit. They serve their punishment, and you move on. It’s never personal. You try to do what’s best for the team and we go from there.”

Wilkerson spoke with a group of his teammates Monday to address his benching. He would not disclose what his message was.

“If they respect me, they respect me,” Wilkerson said. “If they don’t, they don’t. I understand, and I just got to move forward.”