The New York Jets will be without their best offensive player in Week 7 against the Carolina Panthers. Star receiver Garrett Wilson will miss his first game of the year with a knee injury.
Wilson has been dealing with the ailment all week and was officially ruled out for Week 7 on Friday, CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reported. The absence will be the first game Wilson will miss in his four-year career.
Wilson suffered the injury during the Jets' Week 6 loss to the Denver Broncos in London. He caught just three of his eight targets in that game for a season-low 13 receiving yards.
Wilson leads the team with 36 catches and 395 receiving yards through six games. Tight end Mason Taylor is the team's next leading pass-catcher with 177 receiving yards on the year.
Without Wilson in the lineup, Josh Reynolds will become Justin Fields' de facto No. 1 target in Week 7. The team will also expect more from rookie Arian Smith and Tyler Johnson. Allen Lazard, who was a healthy scratch in Week 1 and Week 6, should also get back into the lineup.
New York's makeshift receiving room should force it to lean even further on its ground game against a mediocre Panthers defense. Fields and Breece Hall have already combined for 645 rushing yards on the year, one of the highest among quarterback-running back tandems in the league.
Jets' offense in shambles ahead of Week 7 Panthers matchup
Garrett Wilson's injury only worsens the dire state of the Jets' struggling offense. New York is coming off a pitiful loss to the Broncos in Week 6, during which it managed just 82 yards of total offense.
Most of the offensive struggles were blamed on Fields, who seemed entirely unaware that he was facing one of the league's best pass-rush units. The fifth-year quarterback displayed the pocket presence of a college freshman, taking nine sacks to give the team -10 passing yards at the end of the game.
Without Wilson, the Jets' offense goes from bad to worse. Fields' incompetent passing is now paired with a nonexistent receiving corps, likely resulting in a one-dimensional Week 7 offensive showing. They should still have enough to top their dreadful Week 6 performance.
