Franklin-Myers breaks down over deal, son
LONDON — John Franklin-Myers broke down into tears when he reflected on signing a four-year, $55 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. The reason why Franklin-Myers was emotional: He wished his 2-year old son could have been there to watch him sign his new contract.
“I wish that he was there when I signed it. Just happened so fast...I play football for him,” Franklin-Myers said with a crack in his voice.
As emotional as Franklin-Myers was in that moment, he’s elated to be a Jet long-term.
“It’s definitely an honor to get that security and get a chance to feed my son,” Franklin-Myers said. “Just another opportunity to play with these guys and get coached from these coaches. Looking forward to another four years here.”
Quinnen Williams said that the newly paid defensive end needs to take the Jets defensive line room out to eat with the new deal.
Franklin-Myers chuckled and said “No chance.”
When Robert Saleh became the Jets head coach, Franklin-Myers was one player that Saleh salivated at the potential within his defensive scheme.
“JFM is a stud. When we first got here, we studied all our players and the one of the guys that stood out to us was JFM,” Saleh said. “We didn’t know anything about JFM and man, he can really take off. We felt he could be a really great fit for our system and what we ask out of our defensive line and he has done nothing but work, work, work... First play of overtime, he tackled Derrick Henry with the tight end’s back. It just showed some sheer dominance and he hasn’t even scratched the surface of where we think he can go within this system.”
It’s early but the stats have shown it’s been a great marriage. Franklin-Myers has flashed an impressive statline through four games this year. He has 17 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, and three sacks, five quarterback hits, three tackles for loss and a forced fumble in 2021.
“When you have guys who do things the right way, you have guys who are leaders in the locker room,” Saleh said. “And they produced to his level, credit to Joe (Douglas), finding him off the waiver wire and (defensive line coach) Aaron Whitecotton to work with him. But those are the guys that we want to pay, so JFM is deserving of it and we couldn’t be happier to have it done.”
WILSON RECOGNIZED
Zach Wilson earned Rookie of the Week after his explosive performance against the Titans.
WIlson clinched that honor by throwing for 297 yards with two touchdowns and provided highlight plays that rocked the internet. Those plays helped lead the Jets to their first win of the season.
Wilson was appreciative of the award, but realized it reflected more about the teams’ performance versus his individual excellence. If Davis doesn’t catch the off-platform 53-yard throw for a touchdown, or Keelan Cole secured the 54yard catch, Wilson doesn’t notch the award.
“It was awesome. I think the cool thing about those individual awards is they’re very team faced. And I think the guys know that they understand that,” Wilson said. “That award shows how well we did as a team overall that past week. A lot of those plays that we had made weren’t just because of me. There’s a lot of those guys who give me that time and the receivers making some great catches too.”
When young players get a taste of success, sometimes they can become complacent. But Robert Saleh isn’t stressing that in regards to Wilson because of the rookie’s mental makeup.
“That’s where I think he’s phenomenal, is his process,” Saleh said. “He takes the good with the bad and vice versa and he’s just always trying to find ways to get better.” ne of Saleh’s many mantras is stacking good days. Wilson had a great day against the Titans and now has to stack that into Sunday when the Jets take on the Falcons in London.
O