Garrett Wilson is entering his fifth season and is ready to use it as a bounce-back opportunity. After a rough 2025 for the team as a whole, the Jets star wide receiver wants to get back to work. Last season was the first year that Garrett Wilson didn’t have over 1,000 receiving yards. The New York Jets have had a lot of faults since 2022. However, you can’t blame that on Wilson. Between multiple head coaches, multiple offensive coordinators, and nine starting quarterbacks, their offense has been through it all. The only consistent positives have been Wilson and star running back Breece Hall.
Now, with head coach Aaron Glenn’s job on the line, the team needs to get wins. This led to major changes in both the coaching staff and the locker room. After moving on from Tanner Engstrand, the team is trusting veteran coach Frank Reich to lead the offense. Along with Reich, the team moved on from last year’s starter, Justin Fields, in exchange for two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Geno Smith. However, the most important move came during the NFL Draft. While the team has been impressed with midseason addition Adonai Mitchell, the wide receiver room needed help behind them. Now, Garrett Wilson has some support around him.
Garrett Wilson Is the Biggest Winner of the Jets Offseason
Selected 10th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Ohio State, wide receiver Garrett Wilson has become one of the most underrated players in the league. Despite multiple offseasons of dealing with new coaches and quarterbacks, he found a way to piece together three consecutive seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards. During his rookie season, Wilson finished the year with 83 catches on 147 targets for 1103 yards and four touchdowns. Despite playing with four different starting quarterbacks, Garrett Wilson’s efforts helped him become the 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Since then, Garrett Wilson followed that up with 1,042 yards on 95 catches with three touchdowns in 2023. Along with a career high of 1104 yards with 101 catches and seven touchdowns. After moving on from the Aaron Rodgers experiment after two seasons, the Jets brought in Wilson’s Ohio State teammate, Justin Fields, to play quarterback. Unfortunately, the college chemistry wasn’t there as Fields struggled mightily last year. While Garrett Wilson had a target share of over 33% through the first five weeks last year, Justin Fields ineffectiveness limited opportunities to move the ball down the field. In addition, a knee sprain in late October would end Wilson’s season with only 36 catches for 395 yards and four touchdowns.
With 2025 going down as a lost season, general manager Darren Mougey knew he had to resolve the Jets’ league-worst passing offense. Especially after the hard work and sacrifice Garrett Wilson gave to this team. Now, entering the second season of his four-year, $130 million contract extension, which he signed last season, Wilson is ready to show why he earned that money. With the pressure on for Aaron Glenn, Darren Mougey understood he needed a quality support system to help Wilson. Hopefully, the Jets moves this offseason should help with that.
Justin Fields TD to Garrett Wilsonpic.twitter.com/C1ACACVqDK
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) September 7, 2025
New Offensive Coordinator Frank Reich is bringing some old school to the offense
After one season, the Jets decided to move on from first-year offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand. Initially, Aaron Glenn hoped Ensgstrand could provide the same creative running game to help lead to an explosive play-action passing game that they both witnessed firsthand while with Ben Johnson on the Detroit Lions. Unfortunately, Justin Fields is no Jared Goff. After the Jets defense struggled last year as well, Glenn opted to become the primary playcaller on defense just like he did in Detroit.
However, with Glenn prioritizing the defense, the team needed a stabilizing presence to run the offense. As a result, the Jets hired former head coach Frank Reich to become the team’s new offensive coordinator. This move marks the return to the NFL for Reich after his midseason firing as head coach with the Carolina Panthers in 2023. While his time in Carolina was unsuccessful, Reich did help the Indianapolis Colts to multiple playoff appearances during his tenure.
In addition, Reich had spent four seasons as an offensive coordinator between the San Diego Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. Throughout his coaching career, Reich worked with some talented wide receivers. Including but not limited to Reggie Wayne, TY Hilton, Pierre Garcon, Alshon Jeffery, and even soon-to-be Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald during Reich’s brief tenure with the Arizona Cardinals. If there’s anyone who can be trusted to offer some perspective to further elevate Wilson’s game, it’s Frank Reich’s decades worth of experience.
Geno Smith is back and ready to go to work
Joe Flacco, Zach Wilson, Mike White, Chris Streveler, Aaron Rodgers, Trevor Siemian, Tim Boyle, Justin Fields, and Tyrod Taylor. These are the nine starting quarterbacks Garrett Wilson has played with throughout his four-year career at this point. This kind of revolving door at the position is difficult for any wide receiver to overcome. Without stability at quarterback, an offense can easily fall apart.
As a result, the Jets opted to bring back a familiar face after acquiring quarterback Geno Smith from the Las Vegas Raiders. Yes, the 2013 second-round draft pick is once again leading the Jets offense. But this isn’t the same Geno Smith that Jets fans saw a decade ago. After serving as a backup on both the New York Giants and Chargers, a six-year tenure with the Seattle Seahawks revitalized his career. Smith won the starting job after the Seahawks traded veteran Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos and put together a great three-season tenure as their starting quarterback.
It’s important to note that Geno Smith is coming back after back-to-back seasons with at least 15 interceptions. However, the Jets offensive line should be more stable than what he had in Las Vegas last season. One big reason the Jets brought back Smith was his ability to help Garrett Wilson’s former Ohio State teammate, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, become one of the best slot receivers in the league. Smith became a valuable leader whom Smith-Njigba could lean on. If Geno Smith can replicate that same chemistry with Garrett Wilson, we could witness one of Wilson’s best seasons yet.
Jets provided their offense with more first-round talent
In Darren Mougey’s first season as general manager, he followed his predecessor Joe Douglas’ playbook from 2024 and drafted offensive tackle Armand Membou. Membou put together a great rookie season in New York and looks like a long-term piece of the offensive line, playing opposite of 2024 first-round pick left tackle Olu Fashanu. With a foundation on the offensive line, the Jets also added to the wide receiver room at the trade deadline. As a result of the Indianapolis Colts acquiring star cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, the Jets acquired 2024 second-round pick Adonai Mitchell to join their wide receiver room in the return package. Thus far, Mitchell has shown flashes of being a capable downfield threat when on the outside.
But the Jets knew they’d need more behind Garrett Wilson and promising rookie tight end Mason Taylor. As a result, Mougey used the team’s 16th overall pick to select Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq. While listed as a tight-end, Ducks offensive coordinator Will Stein lined up Sadiq all over the field and became a favorite target for quarterback Dante Moore. While Aaron Glenn was in Detroit, he saw the Lions offense succeed after drafting tight end Sam LaPorta in the second round of 2023. The team hopes it can replicate that kind of success with Frank Reich, who worked closely with veteran tight ends like Antonio Gates and Zach Ertz.
That’s not all. Mougey maneuvered up the draft board to acquire the 30th overall pick, which New York used on Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. Last season, Cooper led the Hoosiers offense in catches with 69 receptions for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns. While primarily operating out of the slot, Cooper showed flashes of being a threat on the outside. The duo of Sadiq and Cooper provides the Jets with two promising offensive talents that should allow Garrett Wilson some breathing room. If Cooper Jr and Sadiq can make an impact, Garrett Wilson should have an easier time creating space with this new supporting cast.
Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall are in it for the long haul 🤝 pic.twitter.com/d6ODuCo6eA
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) May 12, 2026
Breece Hall resigns
Finally, one of the biggest wins for Garrett Wilson was the team retaining the talents of running back Breece Hall long term. Entering this offseason, speculation grew on whether the Jets would keep Hall long term on a new contract extension. Arguably, Hall’s production is just as important as Wilson’s. Along with being a talented running back, Hall’s receiving skills have been important to the Jets success. In fact, in the last three years, Hall finished within the top three in targets and receptions on the team.
After rushing for over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career, the Jets recognized his value to the team. This resulted in Hall agreeing to a new three-year contract extension. With Hall locked in long-term, Garrett Wilson can breathe a sigh of relief now that his fellow 2022 draft class teammate is here to stay.
With Hall’s ability to explode for a big play, opposing defenses routinely stacked the box to prevent Hall from making big gains. Now, the Jets can exploit it with Garrett Wilson underneath routes for yards over the middle. After adding weapons to the supporting cast, the Jets have made Garrett Wilson’s life a lot easier if Geno Smith can serve as a stable presence under center.
Main Photo: [Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com] – Imagn Images
