Jets’ Garrett Wilson learned lessons during time on injured list

Garrett Wilson had never been in such a spot.

Before last season, he’d never missed a game in the NFL, a constant on Jets teams mostly filled with anything but those. He’d never really had an injury happen on the field, either, he recalled Thursday while addressing reporters for the first time since that all changed in October.

Wilson hyperextended his knee in Week 6 and missed two games. Then, after aggravating it in Week 9, he ended up on injured reserve and ultimately was shut down for the rest of the 2025 campaign, ending with just 395 receiving yards in seven games.

It cost him a chance at a fourth consecutive 1,000-yard season to start his career as well as a chance to try to help fix the Jets’ woes after he committed to being a franchise cornerstone with his $130 million extension the previous summer.

In a way, Wilson admitted Thursday, he looked back at what transpired and thought, “Alright, maybe you needed it.” Maybe he needed to change his perspective.

Maybe he was getting a little too comfortable, taking for granted the future practices and games to correct what went wrong. Maybe he needed a reminder that he only gets one chance at this NFL career.

“It really allowed me to change my point of view and just kind of look at some things from a different angle,” Wilson said. “So I don’t want to sit here and act like I didn’t get anything out of [the injury], but not playing football, which is ultimately what I was brought here to do, it hurt. It’s never been brought upon me like that, so it was a little different.”

Nearly seven months after his last game, Wilson said he felt great and oozed with positivity. He said that this season feels different from last year, that Gang Green “can talk about the Super Bowl” and “can talk about the playoffs” because the freshness in Year 1 of the new regime has morphed into comfort in Year 2. Even though there are final steps in his return that Wilson can’t mimic in offseason workouts conducted without pads, he expressed excitement to be back.

Head coach Aaron Glenn said he’s “typical Garrett” and getting all of the needed reps. During the Jets’ OTAs session Thursday, that materialized in individual drills and through catches, making everything seem a bit more normal for the Jets. He took the initial steps toward developing chemistry with Geno Smith, who said Wilson makes him better and who will mark the eighth quarterback to throw him a touchdown pass if they connect.

There has been plenty of change on offense, plenty of moving pieces that need to settle into place before Gang Green opens the season against the Titans on Sept. 13 and the NFL’s fourth-worst offense in points and yards last season gets a chance to officially revive itself. Even the wide receiver room around Wilson will look different in 2026, with veteran Tim Patrick and rookie Omar Cooper Jr. joining him. He has spent the offseason learning yet another offensive system, praising Frank Reich’s scheme as one that empowers wideouts and other skill-position players — something reflective of “a guy that’s played quarterback and kind of gets it as far as the instincts side of football.”

“This is probably one of the offenses that I’m gonna look back on in a few years and love the most,” Wilson said.

Even after the losing-filled seasons, even after the injury-filled 2025, even after other pieces of the Jets core who arrived with Wilson have been discarded, his desire to win with the Jets — a vision that he shares with recently extended Breece Hall after they both were drafted by Gang Green in 2022 — hasn’t faded.

In his eyes, that dream has just been delayed, and now, after the injury and the lengthy recovery that followed, Wilson will get a fresh start.

“When you are hurt,” Glenn said of Wilson, “it just seems like you’re distant from the team for the most part because you’re in the training room getting treatment when everybody else is doing things to get ready for a game. So, mentally that can mess with you a little bit, but I think he’s done a good job of making sure he got himself ready to play.”