Muhammad Wilkerson Interested In Re-Signing With Packers

Veteran DL Muhammad Wilkerson tells Michael Cohen of the Athletic that he liked playing in Green Bay would be interested in re-signing with the Packers once he’s ready to return from a serious ankle injury. 

“I like it here a lot,” Wilkerson said. “I came here to prove that I can play at a high level and that was cut short. But that’s how the game goes sometimes. I definitely want to get another shot to show what I can do.”

Wilkerson suffered a broken ankle a few games into the 2018 season and was later placed on injured reserve. 

While it was clearly a serious injury, Wilkerson explains that he suffered a compound fracture that required a similar kind of brace to the one Alex Smith was seen with on his leg a few weeks ago. 

“Once they took me in the back (of the stadium) and they wanted to do X-rays (at FedExField), one of the trainers was back there and he’s cutting my sock,” Wilkerson said. “So I knew it was bad because he opened up the sock, and I’m pretty sure he saw my bone. It was a compound fracture, so the bone pierced the skin. The bone was out a little bit. That’s why I had to have that emergency procedure. Going to the hospital, I just knew it was that bad, it was something real bad. I was scared. I’m thinking, like, something has got to be amputated. My career might be over. But thank God and everything that it wasn’t amputated.

They put on some kind of stabilizer. I don’t know if you’ve seen kind of like what (Redskins quarterback) Alex Smith had on his leg, that big thing. But mine was smaller. It was just the ankle. I had that on for like a week before my procedure out here in Green Bay.”

Wilkerson, 29, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2011. He played out his rookie contract with the team and was in line to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason before the Jets used their franchise tag on him in 2017.

The Jets later signed Wilkerson to a five-year, $86 million contract before releasing him last year. From there, Wilkerson signed a one-year contract with the Packers worth up to $8 million.

Wilkerson will be an unrestricted free agent this March. 

In 2018, Wilkerson appeared in two games and recorded four tackles and no sacks for the Packers.

We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2019 NFL Free Agents list.