Have the New York Jets thrown the gauntlet down on what they expect from any of their stars looking for a new deal? Or, are Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson showcasing their negotiation savviness?
That’s the question to ask now that SNY’s Connor Hughes reported that both Gardner and Wilson are in attendance for voluntary offseason workouts to kick off the first phase of activities underway by new head coach Aaron Glenn.
If Glenn’s comments over the last few months are any indication, though, Gardner and Wilson’s attendance may not have been up for debate.
Jets lay down gauntlet to stars
Wilson and Gardner may want (and deserve) new deals, but they also have to show they are “all-in” to Glenn’s coaching style and plan on how to improve the organization.
While coaches cannot require attendance, they can strongly recommend that it will be noted which plays actually showed up or not.
Glenn’s comments just a few weeks ago defends that point.
“I’m not here to talk about the Super Bowl, I’m not here to talk about playoffs or anything like that when the players first get in,” Glenn said at the 2025 NFL Annual League Meeting in Palm Beach, FL. “To me, it’s the process of actually making it to that point. The two things that I want to make sure that we do are, first and foremost, establish a culture that we’ve been talking about and then try to create building an environment and understanding what Phase 1 is really all about.
“We’re trying to get bigger, faster, stronger, and more explosive, and that’s the only thing I want the players worrying about at that point. We have a lot of time for the scheme, we have a lot of time to talk about Super Bowls and playoffs, but right now, building our culture and building our environment in that building is the most important thing right now.”
To Glenn’s point, it would be incredibly hard to build a culture if two of the team’s top talents are not in attendance at the beginning of their workout plan.
Both cases can be fundamentally true, though. The best way for Gardner and Wilson to get the long-term deals they are looking for is to show up. The Jets can make the point that they don’t want to negotiate with any player who isn’t “all-in” on their new regime.
So here we are. New York’s best players want a new deal, but are doing the mature thing by showing up to offseason work. Will it work out for them in the end?
Who knows. But it still is an act of good faith and will to be willing to buy-in already for Glenn and his new staff.
