The New York Jets still have unfinished business this offseason — and it’s not just training camp.
Although they locked up Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson long-term, they still haven’t addressed their best player from the draft prior: right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker.
After seeing his 2022 and 2023 seasons prematurely end due to injury, Vera-Tucker finally put together a year Jets fans knew he had in him. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, his 4.3% pressure rate in 2024 ranked fourth-best out of 77 qualified guards (min. 150 pass-blocking snaps). He also allowed a 4.6% pressure rate in one-on-one situations (3rd).
As a run-blocker, Vera-Tucker was solid, posting a 76.3 Pro Football Focus run-blocking grade (12th out of 73).
Vera-Tucker is the Jets’ best and most consistent offensive lineman, according to the detailed film review by Jets X-Factor’s Joe Blewett. His technique is often teach-tape-worthy. Teams don’t let 26-year-old guards with that kind of profile walk.
Aaron Glenn stated in a press conference that he and general manager Darren Mougey would be open to starting talks with Vera-Tucker during training camp.
So why would there be a question about whether to give Vera-Tucker the extension he so richly deserves?
The case to wait
There are still some questions about Vera-Tucker’s health. Even though he played 15 games in 2024, his ankle was a persistent issue that kept him questionable for several consecutive weeks.
Mougey may want to simply let him play out his final season and evaluate his health and performance before paying him. If he can stay healthy and maintain or exceed his 2024 performance, then the Jets could extend him at that point, as they did with Jamien Sherwood.
However, given what Glenn said about their willingness to begin talks with him, the Jets don’t seem concerned about this issue. After all, Vera-Tucker ultimately did have a mostly healthy season in 2024, and that was in the year following an Achilles tear.
His outlook heading into 2025 is better than ever, especially with an improved offensive coordinator and offensive line coach (since there is nowhere to go but up from Keith Carter).
The main reason they might wait
Extending Vera-Tucker this offseason may well come down to Woody Johnson.
When an NFL player signs a contract, their signing bonus is due at the time of signing. A significant percentage of the guaranteed money must be placed into an escrow account at that time.
Having already shelled out hefty signing bonuses and guarantees for both Wilson and Gardner, Johnson may simply be unwilling to give a third large contract in the same offseason. He may prefer to spread out those payments over two offseasons. If that is the case, Mougey will have no say in the matter.
Despite the hard salary cap in the NFL, this is one area in which an owner’s willingness to spend can make a major difference in a team’s player acquisition and retention.
Alternatively, the Jets could negotiate with Vera-Tucker during the season. In 2021, Joe Douglas gave John Franklin-Myers an extension in October. In 2023, Jets fans were begging him to do the same with Bryce Huff during the bye week. Perhaps this would spread out the hit on Johnson’s liquid cash just a bit and persuade him to give Vera-Tucker the deal he deserves.
Will they lose by waiting?
The biggest questions here are if the guard market would explode in the interim and if Vera-Tucker would insist on testing the market rather than negotiating an extension with the Jets.
To me, the former seems more likely than the latter. Just think about what happened with the Sherwood extension: he was projected to get $10-12 million per year, and the Jets ended up feeling compelled to give him $15 million per year. This has happened repeatedly in the guard market.
Furthermore, by waiting until after training camp to extend Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson, Mougey was forced to give them a far higher average annual value than if he had done so immediately after being hired. At the end of the 2024 season, the richest AAV for a cornerback contract was Patrick Surtain’s $24 million. Just five months later, Gardner received $30.1 million per year (although his deal is not as functionally different from Surtain’s in terms of guarantees as it would appear).
Similarly, Wilson’s AAV might have landed in the $26-28 million range (where Tee Higgins and DeVonta Smith are) had Mougey hurried. Instead, he got $32.5 million.
There has been no indication from Vera-Tucker that he is unhappy with the Jets; in fact, his recent comments suggest quite the opposite. He has been the consummate professional, saying all the right things and leading by example.
Even a more disgruntled Jets player like Wilson has seemingly bought in to the Aaron Glenn/Mougey process. Unless this Jets season goes completely awry from a relationship standpoint, Vera-Tucker seems like he would be fully willing to negotiate an extension to remain in New York.
But the risk of having to pay a premium for waiting a year is real. Chiefs star Trey Smith recently reset the guard market with a four-year, $94 million deal ($23.5 million per year).
Although Smith is widely acknowledged to be one of the best guards in football, the only accolade he has to his name thus far is one Pro Bowl in 2024 with no All-Pro berths. Therefore, Vera-Tucker may see that contract as a bar to clear in his own negotiations rather than a top-of-the-market number.
Would the Jets be willing to give Vera-Tucker more than Smith’s $70 million in total guarantees and more than $23 million AAV? While that’s a hefty price tag, the longer they wait, the higher that number will likely go.
Therefore, Glenn’s words about contract negotiations with Vera-Tucker should become actions sooner rather than later. If the Jets want to establish a winning culture, the first order of business is to lock up the foundational pieces that can get them there — and Vera-Tucker is prominent among them.