In the NFL, it’s one thing to be force-fed targets and put up a nice yardage total because of it. It’s another story, though, to legitimately win matchups on a consistent basis.

So far, the New York Jets’ top two receivers, Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell, have fallen in the latter camp this season.

While Mitchell ranks just 65th among WRs in receiving yards this year (123) and Wilson ranks 13th with 270, both have been doing their jobs at a high level on a snap-to-snap basis.

Wilson and Mitchell have been excellent separators

According to Fantasy Points’ separation score data, Wilson owns a separation score of roughly 0.175 through four weeks, placing him eighth among wide receivers in that metric.

For perspective, the average separation score among receivers included in the chart is approximately 0.047. Wilson’s mark is nearly four times that number.

It’s even more impressive when you look at how often he’s been targeted relative to the other WRs on the chart. He is being targeted on roughly 27% of his routes, well above the chart’s average of around 19.5%. That shows he isn’t just inflating his numbers by getting open on a small target sample.

He ranks alongside some of the league’s top WRs like CeeDee Lamb, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Mike Evans, and Drake London. While he is being targeted more than the NFL average, it still isn’t enough.

Wilson ranks just 18th among all players with 31 total targets. In three of his four games, he received seven targets or fewer.

The Jets need to make Wilson the definitive focal point of their offense. There is no reason he shouldn’t be peppered with targets each week. Eight targets should be his weekly minimum. Week 3 is the only time this season that he has received at least that many targets (13). With that workload, Wilson caught 10 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown.

There is a case to be made that Wilson is one of the NFL’s most underrated receivers. He has been a pillar of consistency, surpassing 1,000 yards in all three of his fully healthy seasons despite playing with a myriad of quarterbacks. This separation data only reinforces that he needs to be even more involved in the Jets’ offense moving forward.

Then, there is Mitchell. He currently possesses a separation rate of around 0.14 while being targeted on roughly 26% of his routes. Like Wilson, Mitchell, who has played in just two games due to a finger injury, sits comfortably above league average in both categories and lands in the top-right quadrant with some of the best receivers in the game.

Think about that for a second. The Jets have two receivers who are creating separation at some of the highest rates in the league, and their quarterback, Geno Smith, leads the NFL in completion percentage (72.6%). When is the last time that could be shouted from the rooftops in Jetland?

Despite all of that, the Jets still rank 23rd in passing attempts per game (29.3). How is that possible? This is where Frank Reich comes in.

Nobody is arguing that the Jets need to lead the league in passing attempts per game and fully abandon the rushing attack. However, Reich has to recognize what’s working and what isn’t.

Over four games this year, the Jets’ rushing attack hasn’t been a recipe for success, save for the season opener against the 0-4 Titans. Regardless, Reich continues to lean on the ground game more than seems to be warranted.

The analytics and the eye test suggest that the Jets have a legitimate strength in their passing game. Yet, they still rank in the league’s bottom 10 for passing attempts per game.

Mitchell has missed the past two weeks with an injury, and he will be out again on Sunday. For Wilson, though, there is no excuse for the relatively low target totals, especially while Mitchell has been absent.

Sometimes in the NFL, the answer isn’t nearly as complicated as it needs to be. Get the ball to the guys who are consistently getting open.

Reich has had two of those guys in Wilson and Mitchell this season, coupled with one of the NFL’s most accurate QBs. When both players are healthy, getting each of them the ball should be the focal point of the offense. For now, with only Wilson on the field, the Jets should be even more motivated to rely on their best weapon.