The argument can be made that the best wide receiver prospect in the 2022 NFL Draft was the second player off the board at his position. After an ultra-successful collegiate career as a member of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Garrett Wilson was the 10th overall selection by the New York Jets, a potential No. 1 receiver for second-year signal caller Zach Wilson.
There’s a whole lot of hype around what he can achieve in the league, and ahead of his rookie campaign, Wilson appeared on The Pivot podcast. It featured one spectacular moment where Wilson was informed what it means to pay for a rookie dinner, which left him stunned.
“I gotta take all the receivers to a dinner,” Wilson said around the 44:55 mark. “That’s gonna be cool, I’m excited for that.”
It was at this point that Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor told him this is very much not cool, with Taylor informing him that the bill could get run up to $75,000. Wilson could not believe this.
“Nah, they ain’t doing me for $75k,” Wilson said before getting resoundingly told that he’s wrong.
“All I’m gonna say is, we didn’t do a whole lot of rookie dinners, all the rookies, when I was in Jacksonville,” Taylor said. “We did position by position. But when I was in New England, the entire team went out on the rookies — if it’s 10, 12 rookies, whatever it might be in that class. All I know is, that bill comes back $50-60,000, because Tom [Brady] would come in there and buy a $3, $4, $5,000 bottle of wine, take one sip, put it, and say ‘goodnight.’ So, it’s gonna happen.”
Wilson laughed at this story, but deep down, we can tell that he’s still getting ready to spend a lot more money on a meal than he anticipated.