When the Jets and defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson beat the clock and agreed to a five-year extension last week, it made moot the question of whether Wilkerson would be reporting to training camp on time this summer.
The loss of that question allowed another one to take the top spot when it came to uncertainty about what Wilkerson will do during camp. Wilkerson broke his leg in Week 17 last season and has been rehabbing the injury throughout the offseason, which led to a report over the weekend that he is likely to start training camp on the physically unable to perform list.
Wilkerson didn’t have an answer about the plans on that front during a Wednesday conference call, but did say that the regular season version of the PUP list isn’t in the cards.
“I don’t know right now,” Wilkerson said, via NJ.com. “I’m just going to continue to keep rehabbing. And whatever the strength coaches and training staff have in store for me, that’s what I’m going to keep on doing. I’ll be ready for Week 1. When the training staff and the strength coaches and the coaches feel that it’s time for me to get out there on the [practice] field, and I’m ready to go, then I’ll be out there.”
Even if Wilkerson does start camp on the PUP list, there’s a fair chance that he’ll be cleared to practice ahead of when he would have appeared at camp without his new contract signed and sealed. And he’ll also be there in 2017 and beyond, which likely makes a few days of camp less of a concern than they might have been under other circumstances.