Russell Wilson is joining CBS as an analyst on The NFL Today for the 2026 season and he chose that job over an opportunity to serve as the backup quarterback to Geno Smith with the Jets.
Wilson’s move into broadcasting came up during Jets head coach Aaron Glenn’s press conference on Tuesday. The Jets currently have Brady Cook, Bailey Zappe, and fourth-round pick Cade Klubnik behind Smith and Glenn was asked about the impact Wilson’s decision has on their plans for the No. 2 job.
“Nothing at all,” Glenn said. “I think the last time we talked I had said that we were looking at number of quarterbacks, and that’s just what it was. Hopefully he will have a good TV career. Heck, I know that he’ll be good at it, and congrats to him.”
A report last month said that the Jets want to see more of Klubnik in OTAs before making any other moves for a more experienced quarterback and the elimination of Wilson as an option would seem to give the rookie a stronger chance of winding up in the backup role.
Jets Clips
The Jets signed a couple of players to their 90-man roster on Monday.
They announced the additions of linebacker Chase Wilson and wide receiver Da’Quan Felton. They also confirmed that they have waived kicker Lenny Krieg and linebacker Kobe King.
Wilson tried out for the Jets at their rookie minicamp. He had 46 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 2 interceptions while playing for West Virginia last season.
Felton signed with the Giants after going undrafted in 2025 and he spent the entire season on injured reserve. He had 70 receptions for 1,027 yards and 10 touchdowns while at Virginia Tech.
Russell Wilson is staying in New York. But he won’t be playing for the Jets.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, Wilson is “finalizing a deal” to become an analyst with CBS.
Wilson will be joining The NFL Today, which currently features James Brown, Nate Burleson, and Bill Cowher. A seat opened when Matt Ryan left to become the Falcons’ president of football.
The Jets were considering Wilson as a veteran backup to Geno Smith, who once was Wilson’s backup in Seattle. Wilson has said he had an offer from the Jets.
It’s rare for any quarterback who was once the highest-paid player in the league to happily accept the second spot on a depth chart. (Joe Flacco is the one of the most significant exceptions.) Wilson was the Giants’ starter when he signed there in 2025, and he was the Steelers’ starter when he signed there in 2024. His days as a starter are and were over.
As to the biggest TV opportunities, those seats don’t always pop open. With Ryan exiting, there was a current opportunity for Wilson. If he didn’t take it now, it may not have been there in a year.
Wilson, a third-round pick out of Wisconsin, started for the Seahawks from 2012 through 2021. He was traded to the Broncos in 2022.
A Super Bowl winner and a 10-time Pro Bowler, Wilson was never a first-team All-Pro or a serious MVP candidate. At 16th on the all-time passing yardage list and 12th on the all-time passing touchdown list, he’ll have a somewhat challenging case to get to Canton.
That’s where a great career in TV can make a difference. Yes, the debate will be about his playing career. And, yes, his case will get stronger if he becomes a successful and enduring presence in NFL broadcast universe.
The Jets signed David Bailey and Kenyon Sadiq last month and they’re kicking off June by getting their third first-round pick from this year under contract.
Rich Cimini of ESPN.com reports that they have agreed to terms with wide receiver Omar Cooper on a four-year rookie deal. The Jets will have an option for a fifth season as well.
The Jets traded second- and fifth-round picks to the 49ers to move back up to No. 30 in order to select Cooper late in the first round. He had 69 catches for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns while playing for Indiana last season.
Fourth-round defensive lineman Darrell Jackson is the only Jets draft pick who has not agreed to a contract yet.
The Jets signed Younghoe Koo last week in a move that gave them three kickers on their 90-man roster.
That number is set to drop down to two on Monday. Brian Costello of the New York Post reports that the the Jets will waive Lenny Krieg, which will leave Koo and Cade York as their two kickers.
Krieg began playing football in Germany and joined the NFL’s International Player Pathway program in 2025. He spent last season on the Falcons’ practice squad and signed with the Jets in January.
Costello also reports that the Jets will waive linebacker Kobe King. That move will come with an injury designation,
They have to install playing surfaces that meet exacting standards. They have to change the names of the facilities. They have to shut down all other business (such as major concerts) for the duration of the World Cup.
Given the hoops through which the 11 NFL stadiums will have to jump in order to placate FIFA, it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth it.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently took a look at that question. Said an NFL official from a team that won’t be hosting any of the World Cup games, “I know more than a few teams weren’t disappointed to lose the bid.”
That could be sour grapes, because those who won the right to host the matches are crowing about it.
“Can’t sleep,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said recently, per Volin. “This is a great chance to associate with the worldwide love with soccer, and lets us put a little notch on our belt and share it with what soccer’s about, too. They’ll never be able to take away that we held those games in that stadium.”
Cowboys executive Stephen Jones echoed the sentiment: “We’ll be shut down all summer. But it’s worth it. I mean, this is about brand and, you know, being a part of something special.”
The Joneses wanted to host the matches badly enough to give up their suite for the matches.
“I think I’ve got to go someplace else, but that was a part of it,” Jerry Jones said. “We did a lot of things to make this work.”
The Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Texans, Chargers/Rams, Giants/Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Dolphins, and Eagles will be hosting World Cup games in their stadiums.
The total revenue is projected, per Volin, to be roughly $11 billion. FIFA will pay rent for the stadiums, while keeping the revenue from sponsorships, tickets, suites, merchandise, concessions, and parking.
So how much will the teams get for hosting the World Cup? Per Volin, the terms “have been kept under wraps.”
Given that folks like Jones are not known for doing bad deals, they’ll surely be making more money to host the World Cup matches than they would have made in a normal summer.
Still, it’s a headache. Extra work, extra expenses, extra hassles.
Not to mention the P.R. bruise that comes from the perception/reality that NFL owners who are giving FIFA the surfaces it demands while stubbornly refusing to do the same for pro football players.
The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals, for the first time since 1999. It’s a reminder that the Jets haven’t played in the Super Bowl since 1999.
Jets receiver Garrett Wilson is nevertheless happy for the Knicks and the New York fans. And the situation makes him even more determined to deliver a similar experience for Jets fans.
“The city deserves it, right?” Wilson told reporters recently. “And then when you see the way they receive it, it’s just like, ‘Oh, yeah, I mean, we wish it could happen every year, man.’ Seeing the people, the way they get behind their team.
“I know Jet fans are, you know, like frothing at the mouth to cheer like that, and we want to give it to them. I personally want to give it to them, you know, the most. . . . Yeah, man, it’s cool to see, and I’m glad I’m up here for it. I’m rooting the Knicks on like hell. And yeah, man, you know, that gives us a taste of what it might look like when we figure this thing out, which, you know, we’re excited for the opportunity.”
So will Wilson be going to one of the games? He laughed before saying, “Them jawn’s expensive. So, not yet. I’m gonna be watching.”
For Game 3 on Monday, June 8, against the Spurs, the cheapest ticket to Madison Square Garden on a popular reselling site that we won’t mention (because they don’t pay us to do that) is $4,486. Which Garrett could easily afford, given his average salary of $32.5 million.
The best seats for Game 3 are currently more than $28,000 each. Which he could still easily afford.
But here’s the reality. If they lose, he’ll wish he hadn’t spent the money. And, if they win, that $28,000 will be gone forever. Even at $32.5 million per year, it’s smart to not spend foolishly.
The Jets took three players in the first round of this year’s draft, which led to hope that David Bailey, Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper can spark a long-awaited return to the playoffs for the AFC East team.
It led others to recall similar feelings during the 2022 draft when the Jets took Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson and Jermaine Johnson in the first round. Gardner and Wilson were both named rookie of the year on their respective sides of the ball, but the Jets never got over the hump and Wilson is the only one left on the team’s roster.
Wilson said last week that the changes don’t represent “failure,” but futility has been part of the equation for the Jets far too often and Wilson’s knee injury in 2025 didn’t help matters. He’s been working out without issue this offseason and said that he’s feeling close to being back at the level he wants to play at this fall.
“So now it’s just getting back comfortable with playing, getting used to having a guy on me running routes,” Wilson said, via the team’s website. “Stuff you can’t really mimic until you’re doing the real thing. I feel great, but as far as getting back to myself, I’ve got some work to do. I’m excited, though, I’m excited. It’s going to be a journey and, um . . . yeah, man, I’m not that far off. . . . I don’t want to scare nobody. I’m good. But I’ve got a different standard that I just want to get back to, and that’s the mission.”
Wilson will be working with another new quarterback in Geno Smith, who he said “throws a real friendly ball” that the Jets hope will find its way into Wilson’s hands early and often in their latest bid to snap the NFL’s longest postseason drought.
Geno Smith’s return to the Jets this offseason offers both the team and the player a second chance at the kind of success that eluded them the first time they were together.
Smith was a Jets second-round pick in 2013, but his two years as a starter featured 34 interceptions and his run may be best remembered for the moment when he lost the job because he had his jaw broken by a teammate with a locker room punch. Smith wound up bouncing around the league until finally landing another chance to start with the Seahawks.
Smith exceeded expectations in that role, but a 2025 trip to the Raiders was reminiscent of his time with the Jets and led to the offseason trade that gave him the chance for the kind of career twist that Smith thinks would sound like something out of Hollywood.
“I mean, that’d be like a story in a movie, right?” Smith said, via the team’s website. “I mean, it’s kind of like one of those superhero movies. But you know, my life is based on reality, and we got to focus on getting better every single day. God has blessed me to play in the league this long and to have an opportunity to come back here. I’m very, very grateful for that, because they don’t come too often, these opportunities, you have to cherish them. And that’s the way I look at it . . . I really cherish this opportunity, I really look forward to again just going to practice tomorrow and trying to get better, and that’s the way I’m going to treat this entire year, and the rest of my career.”
Most recent Jets seasons would be better fits for the disaster genre than the superhero one, so there will be plenty of doubts that Smith can move those thoughts from fantasy to reality. If he does, it would only make for a better story when and if the 2026 season ever winds up on the big screen.
One of the newest Jets had an injury concern, but it shouldn’t affect his availability after the offseason program.
Head coach Aaron Glenn told reporters in his Thursday press conference that tight end Kenyon Sadiq underwent a minor procedure to repair a hernia.
But Sadiq is expected to be ready for training camp.
Glenn also noted that the Jets were aware that Sadiq would need the procedure before the draft.
The No. 16 overall pick of the 2026 draft, Sadiq is one of three Jets first-round picks this year. Linebacker David Bailey (No. 2 overall) and receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (No. 30) are the others.
