Jets' Garrett Wilson Reveals New Role He's Playing in Frank Reich's Offense

The New York Jets made a big hire this offseason, hiring Frank Reich as their new OC. 

Reich, who is a gifted offensive play caller, will lean on QB Geno Smith and WR Garrett Wilson in 2026. 

Speaking with former Jets wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, Wilson described the new role that he will play under Reich: lining up outside nearly full-time. 

“If I had to choose to be stationary, I would say just probably the slot, just because you can eat in there," Wilson said. "If it’s man coverage, you got a lot of space. I truly, like this year, I’m getting back to playing outside, which—and we were kind of talking about on the field—all of a sudden, the routes you do catch are a little more contested, but deeper down the field, more rewarding.

"So there’s aspects to it. I like being able to do a little bit of everything and playing outside for me this year has been something I ain’t done in a while, and I missed it.”

Wilson appeared in only seven games last season because of injuries. He caught 36 passes for 395 yards and four receiving touchdowns. 

A Chicago native, Wilson has played in 58 games with the Jets. He has 315 catches, 3,644 receiving yards and 18 receiving touchdowns.

After the Jets acquired Smith from the Las Vegas Raiders, Wilson called Seattle Seahawks superstar Jaxon Smith-Njigba to get some insight.

Smith and Smith-Njigba were teammates in Seattle and Wilson and Smith-Njigba are close friends. 

"Yeah man, when I heard we signed Geno, initially for me it was like I immediately hit up my dawg Jax, who had played with him for two years out in Seattle," Wilson said on the Jets' official podcast, via Heavy Sports. "He had a lot of good insight. He just loved Geno, he spoke so highly of him.  

"All of a sudden, I'm pumped, I'm excited, and then once I got to meet the guy, which would have been a month ago now, mid-April, I had constructed this view of him in my head and how he was going to be. It was cool, right? I couldn't wait to meet him based on what I had constructed in my head. Then I met him and he just blew that out of the water."

The Jets went 3-14 last season and became the first team in NFL history not to record a defensive interception and to lose five straight games by 23 or more points within a single season.

It will be interesting to see how New York does in Year 2 of the Aaron Glenn era. The Jets face the Tennessee Titans in Week 1.