Disaster averted: Hard Knocks takes a hit with Jets Quinnen Williams deal

Jets’ Quinnen Williams finally got his extension, which means this season’s “Hard Knocks” series will have one less dramatic plotline.

Nothing to see here, just a New York Jets defensive tackle getting the extension he deserves. Quinnen Williams secured his bag on Thursday with a four-year, $96 million contract extension that includes $66 million guaranteed, according to Adam Schefter.

He officially became the league’s second-highest paid defensive tackle ($24 million a season) behind only Rams’ Aaron Donald, and his $66 million is the biggest guarantee in Jets franchise history.

The 2019 first-round pick put together a statement-making contract year in 2022, and after some back-and-forth this offseason, New York caved into Williams’ demands.

With New York being picked as this year’s “Hard Knocks” team, this means that Williams’ contract saga will not make the cut. There goes the Darrelle Revis holdout storyline — time for HBO writers to find a new angle.

Jets DT Quinnen Williams gets a win, Hard Knocks takes a L

One could imagine how, after the Jets were announced as “Hard Knocks” participants, the team wanted to hasten Williams’ extension just a tad.

The Darrelle Revis holdout narrative back in 2010 was eaten up by Hard Knocks and broadcast for the world to see; this year, keen to avoid that chaos and instability, New York secured their young defensive starlet before training camp and before the cameras rolled in.

Maybe it was the team’s way of flipping the bird to HBO, saying, “You can make us participate in Hard Knocks, but we’re not going to give you what you want.”

The Jets’ 2023 offseason has, for the most part, followed the same trope of every other up-and-coming team: players are in the best shapes of their lives, chemistry is at an all-time high, nothing but trust and respect in the building.

One scene on Aaron Rodgers’ batty conspiracy theories will make the rose-gold shimmer of the Jets’ offseason disappear in an instant, but that’s just part of his package. The Jets can focus on the good, and Hard Knocks can go screw itself.