Jets, Broncos will split Zach Wilson's $5.5 million guaranteed salary for 2024
The Jets didn't want to pay quarterback Zach Wilson $5.5 million this year. They won't.
They'll pay half that amount.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the Broncos and Jets are splitting the money Wilson is guaranteed to make in 2024, the final year of his rookie deal. So that's $2.75 million from the Jets and $2.75 million from the Broncos.
The Jets will also send a seventh-round pick for Wilson and get a sixth-round pick.
That's a win for the Jets, who faced owing Wilson the full amount minus the $1.055 million minimum for a player with three years of service if/when he signed elsewhere.
The Jets needed to do something. Squatting on Wilson wasn't an option. As we said on Monday's PFT Live, if they had a top-five pick they planned to use on a quarterback, they would have already traded Wilson — because they would have wanted the next guy to see that they did right by the last guy.
They should have traded him a year ago. After a disastrous Thursday night game in late 2022 against the Jaguars, Jay Glazer of Fox reported that the Jets were done with him. Something changed after that, and he morphed into a potential successor to Aaron Rodgers.
Then, Rodgers got injured on the fourth snap of the 2023 season and Wilson had to play, again. And it was, all in all, a disaster.
With Rodgers backed up this year by Tyrod Taylor, and with Taylor having his own history of injuries, it wouldn't have taken much for Wilson to have ended up playing again in 2024. Which was the last thing the Jets or Wilson needed.
