Jets Predicted to Sign Veteran Standout to $98 Million Deal

Getty New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh.

The New York Jets are ready to open the checkbook this offseason.

Rich Cimini of ESPN predicted that Gang Green would sign Quinnen Williams to a record-breaking long-term deal.

“My prediction is a four-year, $98 million extension, keeping him with the Jets through 2027,” Cimini wrote in a story published June 15.

Such a contract would add four more years on to the last year of his rookie contract, making the extension a five-year deal in total.

Cimini said it would be a “surprise” if Williams didn’t have a new deal “by the start of the season,” saying it could happen “by the start of training camp.”

Quinnen Williams’ Contract Demands, Remaining Hurdles for Jets

A $98 million contract, averaging $24.5 million per season, would make Williams the second highest paid defensive tackle in football, behind only Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams and just ahead of Tennessee Titans’ Jeffery Simmons ($23.5 million).

The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt pinned the holdup in negotiations between the Jets and Williams on the length of the contract.

“There is reason to be optimistic that a deal gets done before training camp,” Rosenblatt told me when he appeared on the June 13 episode of my podcast. “The sticking point is not the value of the contract. It’s about one side maybe wants more years [and] one side wants less years. They’re not far apart. I just think it’s kind of like a game of chicken like it was with the Aaron Rodgers trade negotiations.

“Both sides want to get the deal done. Both sides want a certain thing,” Rosenblatt said. “It’s just a matter of who is going to relent, and I don’t know who that is going to be. The Jets don’t seem like they’re in a rush, which is why — from the business side of things — I don’t know if they would say we are 100% going to get this done before training camp.”

Head coach Robert Saleh has suggested the Jets will finalize an extension before the start of camp in late July, Cimini wrote.

Jets Dodged a Potential Bullet This Offseason

Saleh said he canceled the team’s mandatory minicamp, scheduled for June 13-15, because the team would report to training camp a week earlier than usual because of their participation in the Hall of Fame game on August 3 against the Cleveland Browns.

During Rosenblatt’s appearance on my podcast, he suggested to me that there was a benefit of canceling the minicamp — and it involved Williams’ holdout. With the cancellation, the Jets did not have to deal with the added distraction of the media’s coverage of the holdout by Williams — and the subsequent potential fining of one of their top players.

“I don’t think it was part of their decision process, but I do think that there are some benefits,” Rosenblatt told me. “You don’t have to deal with the questions, you don’t have to deal with the awkwardness of him not being there. Saleh’s last words on Quinnen are he knows a deal is going to get done. So we go into the offseason and that’s the last thing we’ve heard about it. It’s definitely a positive that they don’t have to deal with that.”