Jets and Muhammad Wilkerson tie the knot

The New York Jets defy all odds and come up with a last second layup to lock up their homegrown star, defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson.

The New York Jets and mercurial star Muhammad Wilkerson had until 4 pm on July 15th to work out a long term deal. Well apparently they needed every precious second, as initially it appeared that Wilkerson and the Jets missed the final deadline.

But shortly after, rumors started circling around that indeed the Jets and Wilkerson’s camp had consummated a deal right before the clock hit 4 pm. It’s a shocking revelation for a player that had grown weary of contract negotiations that had extended two plus years.

It appears the optimism generated when Mike Garafalo reported that the Jets would send one final offer ahead of the deadline was spot on. Sometimes it just takes the kitchen getting a couple degrees warmer, for the pressure to make magic happen and that’s exactly what happened.

It’s official and the numbers worked out for both sides, which is what happens in these negotiations. Compromise was the key, the Jets gave in with a ton of cash up front, while maintaining cap flexibility for the future.

Official! #JetUp pic.twitter.com/xEEX1R3N1p

— New York Jets (@nyjets) July 15, 2016

Thanks to the Media Relations Department of the Jets, we were able to get a full scope of the contract:

Muhammad Wilkerson signed a 5-year contract for $85m dollars.

$37m fully guaranteed in the first two years of the deal
$54 guaranteed in the first three years of deal (total guarantees)

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It’s the ultimate win-win scenario, Wilkerson gets fully guaranteed dollars over a multi-year period and the Jets can now better prepare for the next wave of stars that are inevitably due to get paid. It’s long overdue, but better late than never, now the questions of reporting to camp are all but put away and now the focus can be properly distributed to the 2016 season.