Muhammad Wilkerson gets major respect

Defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson of the New York Jets was revealed and selected by his peers, as the 39th best player in 2015.

While currently everyone is talking about defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson‘s contract situation with the New York Jets, they should be talking about his career year in 2015. Not only statistically speaking, but he finally started to get recognized as a top-tier player in the NFL. In 2015, Wilkerson was elected to the first Pro Bowl of his five-year career.

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On top of that, Wilkerson had a career year in nearly every major statistical category for a defensive lineman. With that being said, Wilkerson garnered the most respect from his peers that he’s ever had with his most recent Top 100 selection of the NFL Network:

Mo Wilkerson — If he's played your team, there's a good chance he's sacked your QB.

Number 39. #NFLTop100 pic.twitter.com/zbWRnR3KC6

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) June 16, 2016

From 42, to 74, to 39, Wilkerson earned his third straight appearance on the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2015. The only thing that seems to be missing from this utopia is a long-term contract extension.

Wilkerson has skipped voluntary organized team activities, he’s skipped mandatory minicamp (although not mandatory for Wilkerson) and the last thing between Wilkerson and the preseason is training camp.

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Head coach Todd Bowles hasn’t seen Wilkerson “in weeks” and it appears, at least early on, that the Jets and Wilkerson won’t come to terms by the franchise tag deadline in the middle of July.

MetLife Stadium and the Jets are close to Wilkerson’s heart, over the last several years he has got to play less than a half hour from where he grew up in Linden, New Jersey.

If Wilkerson had it his way, it would stay status-quo, but the Jets and Wilkerson’s representatives continue to talk in hopes of finding a middle ground.

Again, something they’ve been unable to do in the last two plus years. It has been brought up so many times that it’s looking likely that Wilkerson might not be a Jet after 2016.

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The Jets only have themselves to blame, they knew that if they procrastinated giving Wilkerson a long-term deal, that there was a potential for him to earn even more money. That is exactly what he’s done with his phenomenal play and his peers have recognized his hard work.