CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There have been no viral videos of Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson having animated conversations on the sideline lately.
Instead, it has just been day after day in training camp of the two of them showing a budding chemistry that could lead to a monster season for the Jets.
On Thursday, Wilson had five catches and two touchdowns in the joint practice with the Panthers.
He also drew a pass interference penalty on a long Rodgers bomb that set up a touchdown.
Wilson is realizing just how good life can be with Rodgers as his quarterback.
“When you got him in front of you and all of a sudden you’re like, this dude can throw anything, he can throw it anywhere,” Wilson said. “For me, it feels like pure football. It feels like I’m a kid again. I can kind of believe what I see, is the best way to put it.”
There have been some rough patches as the two learn each other’s games.
Wilson has always been a guy who can improvise and win with his athleticism.
Rodgers sometimes wants things to be more precise.
“I definitely had to change, style-wise,” Wilson said. “But I would say it’s in a way that’s more natural to the way I play, reacting, believe what you see. He has been around a lot of different receivers, a lot of different guys, and had to figure out a way to get them the ball, and it’s valuable.”
Wilson can still improvise if he sees something on the field.
Unlike the last two years playing with a rotating cast of quarterbacks, Wilson trusts the quarterback will now be on the same page with him.
“Football comes up, and all of a sudden you’ve got to make a football play,” Wilson said. “The dude is sitting right at 7 yards, right? Just run past his ass and put your hand up, right? That’s the type of stuff you can do with Aaron that you couldn’t do last year and the year before. It’s cool, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Wilson is having an outstanding training camp.
He always seems to be open and coming down with the ball.
He tormented the Commanders secondary last week in a joint practice and is even having success against the Jets secondary.
After a strong start in the first two years, Wilson seems to have found another level during his third training camp.
“He’s always been an ultimate competitor,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said, “but he’s really been working on the fine details of his route running, getting to where the quarterback needs him to be and understanding that, sometimes, you don’t always have to absolutely destroy your guy at the line of scrimmage.
“Sometimes, it’s just running a route as fast as you can to get into a spot as quickly as you can so the quarterback can deliver a ball. He’s starting to understand all of that. Because of it, I think he’s realizing his game. He’s so darn good and so twitchy and so fast that he doesn’t have to do a lot to gain the separation that he needs to get open.”
Wilson said he and Rodgers talk a lot to make sure they understand what the other is seeing.
“You definitely got to talk about it,” Wilson said, “and being able to have some harder conversations, being able to have conversations where he’s telling me what he wants and I’ve got to listen to that and I weigh in on how I feel and then we come to a decision together.
“It’s kind of just spending time together and playing, you know, you start to build this chemistry, this understanding for how he goes about his and how I go about mine. Right. It happens naturally. So, you know, I wouldn’t say we were putting like, extra thought into it. At this point, we feel like we’re in a good spot. You know, we definitely had to make up some time to start, but we feel like we’ve picked up kind of where we left off and now it’s just about stacking days and finding a way to, to get better in little ways.”
