As the media entered the Jets' locker room just before noon Wednesday, Garrett Wilson was sitting in the locker room, facing inward and watching film of the Broncos.
The Jets wide receivers will be tasked with one of Gang Green's toughest assignments this week: taking down Broncos star cornerback Patrick Surtain. This is just the latest in a string of tough matchups for Wilson, who has faced some of the best cornerbacks in the past few weeks. Jets opponents will be focused on containing Wilson.
“They're challenging us to take the football and go somewhere else,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said.
The Jets did so last week.
Wilson had a quiet game by his standards against the Patriots, with just five catches for 33 yards despite scoring his first touchdown of the season. But the attention on Wilson created opportunities for the offense, and Aaron Rodgers took advantage.
The Jets' offense looked good against New England, but they know they won't reach their true potential without Wilson. Wilson is the Jets' most dynamic playmaker, and he and Breece Hall are solid players, but the Jets struggled to use Wilson to their full potential early this season.
“All three defenses we faced were just focused on stopping Garrett,” Rodgers said after last week's game.
Over the past two weeks, Wilson has been followed by each team's best cornerback: Rujarius Snead for Tennessee and Christian Gonzalez for the Patriots last week.
That trend looks set to continue this week against the Broncos and Surtin, arguably the best cornerback in football. In Denver's first three games, Surtin has faced off against the Seahawks' DK Metcalf, the Steelers' George Pickens and the Buccaneers' Mike Evans. Metcalf had three catches for 29 yards against Surtin. Pickens had two catches for 29 yards. Evans had two catches for 17 yards.
It will be up to Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Rodgers to decide how to involve Wilson. The Jets will likely try to position Wilson more in the slot and use pre-snap motion to free him up.
“It's a process,” Rodgers said. “You have to make sure you put him in situations where he can be the No. 1 in the progression, which he does a lot, and you have to give him a variety of opportunities in those situations. You want to get him the ball early, but it's a process. He's got to be patient, we've got to be patient. You can't force it. Pat's a phenomenal player, but so is Garrett. It's going to be a good matchup against those two guys.”
This won't be Wilson's first time facing Surtain. The Jets and Broncos faced each other in Wilson's first two seasons. Surtain didn't accompany Wilson in 2022, but he did last year and Wilson was limited to one catch for 12 yards against the shutdown corner, and three catches for 54 yards overall.
The Jets could use some tricks for Wilson, but this is also an opportunity for him to prove he is one of the best wide receivers in the league. Wilson will be eligible for a new contract after this season, and there will be debates about where he ranks among the top receivers. If he wants to be on par with Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson and be paid on par with them, he will need to put up numbers when opponents are focused on containing him.
Jets wide receiver Mike Williams knows what it's like to be the receiver opponents want to stop, a role he played for the majority of his career with the Chargers.
“Obviously, when you're a guy that's in the limelight, guys are going to respect you,” Williams said. “It can get frustrating when you don't see the ball coming to you. Garrett got an opportunity to make a play and he took advantage of it.”
Wilson had 15 catches for 150 yards through three games, which sounds a bit like Aaron Judge's slow start to the Yankees' season, and those concerns seem ludicrous now that Judge is approaching 60 home runs again.
Wilson will start hitting his own home runs soon; he's too good not to.
