The New York Jets’ 2024 season has been one low point after another. In Week 17, the Jets found a new rock bottom, getting pummeled 40-14 by the Buffalo Bills and trailing 40-0 while Aaron Rodgers was in the game.
Predictably, morale is not at a high point in the Jets’ locker room. The latest example of Jets dysfunction came after the Week 17 loss when cornerback Sauce Gardner received attention for some social media comments.
Sauce Gardner Not Recruiting Tee Higgins to Jets
On Saturday of Week 17, Cincinnati Bengals Tee Higgins put on a spectacular show in what could be his final home game as a member of the Bengals. Higgins recorded 11 catches for 131 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning walk-off in overtime.
An impending free agent, Higgins is widely considered the most coveted wide receiver on the free agent market. As such, you’d expect him to be coveted by every team and player in the league.
However, when a Jets fan attempted to coax Gardner into recruiting Higgins to the Jets, the cornerback replied, “I will NOT be telling him that.”
Sauce Gardner’s response to a fan telling him to recruit Tee Higgins to the Jets on IG 🤣 pic.twitter.com/VLUFpPXuPD
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 29, 2024
Gardner’s dissatisfaction wasn’t just on social media. Speaking to the press after the game, the third-year pro claimed “embarrassing” wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the team’s effort in Week 17. The cornerback himself was not able to finish the game after suffering a hamstring injury.
Sauce Gardner said embarrassing isn't even a strong enough word to describe looking up & seeing 40-0 in the 4th Q: #Jets
"We can't be playing as a team. We prob just individuals. Last year & year before we had a roster not as talented as this roster, but we found ways to beat… pic.twitter.com/2yClhGtFlf
— Harrison Glaser (@NYJetsTFMedia) December 29, 2024
Gardner later clarified his Instagram remarks, suggesting that he was backing the team’s current wide receiver duo of Davante Adams and Garrett Wilson and dismissing a potential Higgins signing as unrealistic.
Sauce Gardner response to his viral comment on Tee Higgins IG #Jets pic.twitter.com/MWejsYisAq
— Matt O'Leary (@MattOLearyNY) December 29, 2024
The Jets fell to 4-12 after their Week 17 defeat, the team’s 11th loss in 13 games. Adding further insult, New York doesn’t even hold a top-five pick in the draft entering Week 18 due to its high strength of schedule (which is used to break ties in the draft order).
Instead, the rival New England Patriots are slated to pick first overall entering the final week of the regular season.
Could the Jets Use Tee Higgins?
Despite Gardner’s clarification, no star free agent can be ruled out for the Jets, who have made a series of win-now moves over the years.
The biggest domino will be at quarterback. If the Jets stay the course with Aaron Rodgers, it’s reasonable to believe New York will continue to invest short-term resources in an effort to rebound from this brutal season.
However, the Jets could simply move on from the underperforming 41-year-old after the season. Beyond his declining performance, Rodgers also tends to have a finicky relationship with his teammates. A report emerged Sunday from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport that Garrett Wilson may request a trade if Rodgers returns for the 2025 season.
The Jets would presumably want to hang on to the young star, but Davante Adams could be another story. The 32-year-old Adams will have a $38.3 million cap hit in 2025, and the Jets could save roughly $30 million in cap space by cutting or trading him. New York could also choose to extend Adams to reduce the cap hit, though that would again be the behavior of a contending team.
Higgins will almost certainly want the best long-term financial deal possible after playing hurt throughout the 2024 season on the one-year franchise tag.
And while it’s uncertain that the Jets can keep the Adams-Wilson duo together for 2025, New York is so far away from contention that adding Higgins to the wide receiver room would be a strange use of resources.