Jets quietly pulled off a financial masterclass with Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson deals

The New York Jets locked up the organization's two most important cornerstone players this week, and in the process, they may have pulled off one of the smartest financial moves in recent franchise history.

Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson have both officially agreed to record-setting extensions with the Jets, keeping them under contract through at least the 2030 season. But the brilliance of these deals extends far beyond the emotional impact of retaining both players.

Neither extension is set to kick in until 2027. That means both Gardner and Wilson will play out the remainder of their rookie contracts as well as their fifth-year options before their new extensions even begin.

That also means the actual average annual value of each player's contract over the next six years sits right around $25M, instead of the $30M+ face value on each extension. That’s an absolute bargain, especially in an NFL landscape where wide receiver and cornerback markets are skyrocketing by the year.

These are franchise-defining moves. And they’re the latest evidence that maybe, just maybe, the Jets are finally being run like a competent organization.

The hidden value behind the Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson extensions

Gardner and Wilson wasted little time establishing themselves as the faces of the Jets' franchise. Gardner became the first player in NFL history to earn first-team All-Pro honors in each of his first two seasons, an accolade only matched by Lawrence Taylor and Micah Parsons since the merger.

As for Wilson, he's put up over 1,000 yards and 80+ catches in each of his first three seasons. That's a mark only four other players in league history have reached: Justin Jefferson, Odell Beckham Jr., Michael Thomas, and Ja’Marr Chase. And he’s done it with eight different quarterbacks and a sea of dysfunction around him.

The structure of these deals reflects a forward-thinking approach that’s already quickly become a hallmark of general manager Darren Mougey’s first offseason on the job.

By getting out ahead of the exploding WR and CB markets, the Jets locked in two elite, homegrown talents on contracts that could look like outright steals by 2027.

We haven't seen this level of proactive, calculated team-building in Florham Park in quite some time, and it’s a big reason why optimism, however cautious, is starting to return around the organization.

Time will tell how far this new regime can take them, but the early signs, from contract strategy to organizational culture, point to a team finally building like a contender. Or, at the very least, behaving like a competent, functioning NFL team.

More NY Jets news and analysis: