New York Jets general manager Darren Mougey said Monday the team will exercise the fifth-year contract options for cornerback Sauce Gardner, wide receiver Garrett Wilson and edge rusher Jermaine Johnson.
Gardner, Wilson and Johnson are considered foundation-type players for the new-look Jets, who have a new GM in Mougey and head coach in Aaron Glenn.
The three were first-round picks in 2022 and have been bright spots during a rough stretch for a franchise that has the NFL’s longest active playoff drought at 14 seasons. Gardner is a two-time All-Pro selection, Wilson has more than 100 catches in each of his first three seasons and Johnson was a Pro Bowl pick in 2023 before tearing his right Achilles tendon in Week 2 last year.
“We have time to make that decision, but I do anticipate those fifth-year options on those players,” Mougey said during the team’s pre-draft news conference.
The deadline for NFL teams to exercise the options is May 1, and Mougey indicated the Jets are focused right now on the draft. New York has the seventh overall pick Thursday night, when the three-day draft begins.
Mougey declined to say whether he and the team are open to having talks about contract extensions for the trio.
“I’m going to get through the draft,” Mougey said. “But in terms of contracts and extensions on any players, I’ll always keep that in-house. We’ll keep those dealings and discussions in-house.”
Former Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was released last month, revealed some of the conversations he had with the team during his appearance last week on “The Pat McAfee Show” and was critical of the way the Jets — particularly Glenn — handled the situation.
Rodgers, who said he is keeping both playing and retirement on the table, said he felt disrespected by Glenn during the brief but somewhat contentious meeting on Feb. 6 at the team’s facility. Mougey, who was at that meeting, declined to address Rodgers’ comments.
“I understand the question and I addressed that at the [NFL Scouting Combine],” Mougey said of the team’s conversations with Rodgers. “Today, I just want to talk about the draft and Jets players.”
He repeated that when he was asked if he had any regrets about that meeting with Rodgers. During the combine in Indianapolis in February, Mougey said he has “a lot of respect for Aaron Rodgers as a player and a person, first-ballot Hall of Famer,” but the Jets made the decision to move forward without Rodgers and “look forward to kind of moving past that and into this next process here with free agency and the draft.”
The Jets signed Justin Fields last month as a free agent. Fields, who played in Pittsburgh last season after three years in Chicago, is set to be New York’s starting quarterback this season.
“Yeah, we feel really good about Justin as our starter moving forward and believe in Justin [and] that we can win with Justin,” Mougey said. “He was a priority in free agency and we’re glad we got him here.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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