When the New York Jets entered the 2025 NFL season, the team was counting on two players to help anchor the defense: three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Sauce Gardner.
However, after starting the season 1-7, the team felt that it needed to make changes. Before the trade deadline on Tuesday, New York was busy.
The team traded Williams to the Dallas Cowboys for defensive tackle Mazi Smith, a second-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft, and a conditional first-round pick in the 2027 NFL draft.
In addition, they traded Gardner, who signed a four-year, $120.4 million contract extension with the Jets in the offseason, to the Colts for two first-round picks(2026, 2027).
“I was surprised, like all the other trades around the League,” Jets QB Justin Fields said on Wednesday. “But it’s one thing that kind of sucks being in this League when you build bonds in the locker room with guys, and then the next day they leave. But like I said, it’s a thing that happens every year, so you’re surprised, but not at the same time.”
Jets coach Aaron Glenn said Tuesday was pretty intense.
“Yeah, it was a pretty intense day,” Glenn said on Tuesday. “But for the most part, just getting calls from a lot of different teams, and when the opportunity presents itself for us to be able to build this team, it’s hard to pass it up. Those two guys are great players, we all know that, All-Pro players, but the one constant in this League is change, and I’ve said that to all our players, not just today, but throughout this season, that this is a fluid games, fellas, and listen, players come and go, coaches come and go, but the one thing that I do know, with change, there comes opportunity, and I think Sauce and Quinnen are going to have great opportunity with those teams. But I also know there’s a lot of opportunity for our guys here, too, though.”
Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson, who was drafted in 2022 by the Jets with Gardner, says he has to keep on doing his job.
“My emotions, like that side of it, I hate it, I hate it, you know what I’m saying?” Wilson said on Thursday. “I play football. I play with my brothers. I get to know my brothers. I hate it, but I’m paid to play football. No one cares if I hate it. Go catch the ball. You know what I’m saying? That’s how I see it.”
The Jets are not a good team. Its defense, which Williams and Gardner anchor, has not been very good this season, and they probably still need a quarterback, so these moves, while surprising, should not be shocking.
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