Add The New York Post on Google Garrett Wilson has not played a football game since last November. He knows Friday night’s game against the Buccaneers is only preseason and does not count in the standings, but he’ll take any football right now.
“I missed it a lot,” Wilson said Wednesday. “I grew up my whole life playing this game, loving this game and all of a sudden you’re not able to play and you realize how much it really meant to you. I’ve always known but it kind of just brings it back into perspective. I’m just happy to be back healthy, feeling good and ready to go this season.”
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The Jets are counting on their 26-year-old star to bounce back after a lost year in 2025 when a knee injury limited him to seven games. He has shown no ill effects from the injury during training camp.
He made a highlight play in Tuesday’s joint practice with the Buccaneers, catching a tipped pass and then juking his way through defenders for a touchdown.
“[Wilson] is back to himself,” Jets wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson said. “It’s good to get him back on the field. Our whole offense is just energized when he’s out there on the field. He’s kind of that player when everything is going awry and we need somebody to make a play, boom, he makes that play and kind of calms the storm.”
Jets’ Garrett Wilson (5) runs a drill during a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at training camp in Florham Park, NJ, on Tuesday, August 11, 2026. Bill Kostroun/New York Post There have been plenty of storms since Wilson was drafted by the Jets in the first round of the 2022 draft. He was one of three first-round picks that year and he’s the only one left on the team after the Jets dealt Sauce Gardner to the Colts and Jermaine Johnson to the Titans.
Jefferson, who has coached Wilson since 2024, said he has seen a difference in Wilson this year.
“The really good thing is he’s taken a good step forward and been a more vocal leader,” Jefferson said. “I think that’s awesome. A lot of times when you’re young like that it just doesn’t come to you. I call him a vet now. He’s got things going on. It’s been awesome working with that kid. That kid is not only a good player but he’s a freaking hell of a person.”
Wilson said he’ll probably never be the vocal guy that some of his teammates are, but he now understands when he needs to speak up.
“It’s more just feeling comfortable,” Wilson said. “You feel like when something needs to be said, you’ve got to say it. You don’t want to miss your moment. You don’t want to miss a chance on success because we feel like something didn’t get said when it needed to be addressed. Maybe it’s just getting older and having a better idea of what needs to be said. I’m never going to be that vocal guy to the extent that some may like to see it but when I do think there’s something that needs to be said, I feel fully comfortable saying that. Hopefully, my teammates respect what I do enough and how I’ve been to respond to it. It comes with time and I feel like I’m there now.”
Wilson has been through a lot already in his first four seasons with the Jets. He has played with nine different starting quarterbacks: Joe Flacco, Zach Wilson, Mike White, Aaron Rodgers, Tim Boyle, Trevor Siemian, Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor and Brady Cook. Now, he’s trying to build chemistry with Geno Smith.
Jets’ Garrett Wilson speaks to the media after a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at training camp on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, in Florham Park, NJ. Bill Kostroun/New York Post The Jets believe they have now surrounded Wilson with enough talent to take some of the pressure off of him. Jefferson said he just has to “be Garrett” this season.
“A couple years before he’s had to be the savior,” Jefferson said. “But we put pieces around him now and he doesn’t have to strain as hard. Sometimes you strain so much, the engine kind of dies. We’re in a good place with him right now. We put some pieces around him and if these pieces keep on an upward trajectory we won’t overload him or anything like that.”
