New York Jets: Muhammad Wilkerson beyond the numbers

New York Jets defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson has had a down season, but he’s worth the $20 million price tag in 2018.

Many fans look at a stat sheet when determining a player’s value. When you look at the stat sheet, he’s certainly not worth the price tag the New York Jets will have to dole out to keep him around in 2018. Football is not baseball and a player’s stats do lie in football. What’s more, following being benched for a quarter, Pro Football Talk is reporting that Wilkerson will be gone after this season.

To defend Wilkerson for his tardiness to meetings is ludicrous, and to say he’s worth what the Jets have to pay. The Jets will have a $20 million cap hit in 2018, and they can recoup $11 million if they cut him by the third day of the league year in 2018. The problem is maybe if other players stepped up around him, he would produce more sacks.

Connor J. Hughes of NJ.com tweeted out a video in which he gave linebacker Jordan Jenkins credit for an “endless motor.” While Jenkins hustled on the play and got the sack, it was Wilkerson that set up the sack, but that won’t appear on the stat sheet.

When you watch the play, Jordan Jenkins shows a tireless effort to get to Alex Smith for the sack. However, when you watch it much closer, it was the scheme and the effort of Muhammad Wilkerson that also set up the sack.

In the play Wilkerson runs what is called a stunt. He runs around the back of the rushing Jenkins, takes on the right tackle, and forces Alex Smith up into the gap where Jenkins was there waiting for him. The problem is that fans look at Wilkerson as a defensive end because of his location on the line. He’s actually an interior defensive player because of his gap location.

The talk was about the Jets not finishing games. The Jets were also not finishing plays like this earlier in the season. Jenkins would’ve gotten tied up by the guard and allowed a pass to get thrown.

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Wilkerson may only have 2.5 sacks in 2017, but football is a team game. If plays like the one above were being made behind him more consistently, that sack number would be higher, and there’s no doubt about that.