Muhammad Wilkerson starts season on PUP list for Jets

The Jets defensive end will start the year on the physically unable to perform list.

Muhammad Wilkerson was one of the Jet’s top priorities in free agency. Now that he’s securely a Jet, it’s time to get him healthy. According to a report from Pro Football Talk, Wilkerson will start the year on the PUP list.

The Jets have made deals left and right at the last-minute, signing Ryan Fitzpatrick to a one-year, 12 million deal last night that gives the quarterback another year to prove his worth to the franchise. There wasn’t much optimism about getting a deal done before July 15th for Wilkerson, but they worked it out and he remained a Jet.

Wilkerson suffered a broken leg in Week 17, so it’s unlikely he’ll return by the beginning of the season. Seeing as how the Jets signed him to a 5-year contract, there’s no reason to rush him back to the field just yet. The Jets are perfectly content taking their time with Wilkerson, who had the best season of his career in 2015.

Wilkerson tallied 12 stats in 2015, leading the Jets to a good-to-great season on defense. Overall, the Jets were a solid team, rattling off four wins in December to end the season at 10-6.

If the Jets can get Wilkerson healthy and build off the momentum that they ended 2015 with, they might be able to get past the struggles many are predicting them to have in the 2016 season. The schedule doesn’t stack up favorably for the Jets, but any given Sunday anything can happen.