JERSEY CITY -- If the Jets don't sign defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson to a long-term contract by 4 p.m. Friday, then he will essentially be forced to play 2016 on a one-year franchise tag contract.

And if that happens, there is no way Wilkerson will play for the Jets in 2017, said ex-Jets linebacker and current CBS analyst Bart Scott. He thinks Wilkerson would sign elsewhere next offseason.

"Absolutely," Scott told NJ Advance Media. "He understands that. They can't afford to give him the type of money he wants. I ran into him the other day. He's frustrated. Because when a guy does everything they're supposed to do, do everything right, perform, not be a distraction on the field or off the field ... I mean, who wouldn't be [frustrated]?

"They realistically can't afford to pay him the type of money that he's going to demand in the market. Everyone once in a while, you see a transcendent player in his prime leave a team. I mean, look at Ndamukong Suh."

(Wilkerson's camp and the Jets are seemingly still far apart in contract negotiations, with Friday's deadline looming.)

The Jets could franchise tag Wilkerson again next offseason, but they'd have to pay him about $18.8 million, on top of the $15.7 million he would make in 2016 under the franchise tag. So a second consecutive tagging seems unlikely.

Scott spoke Thursday at Cochrane Stadium, where he played in a charity softball game organized by WFAN hosts Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton.

As Scott mentioned Thursday, there are other factors at play here, too, because the Jets have two additional talented young defensive linemen -- Leonard Williams and Sheldon Richardson. They drafted Williams in 2015 and Richardson in 2013.

"When they [drafted] Leonard Williams, it was an indication of things to come," Scot said. "I think that they believe that Leonard Williams is a plug-and-play player. It allows Sheldon Richardson to go back to his natural position. Eventually, they're going to have to sign Richardson.

"If they were going to get [Wilkerson] signed, they should've signed him early instead of late, because now the market is so high, [that] how can you explain putting that type of money there, and then we're having the same discussion the following year about Sheldon?

"They're going to end up paying more money for Sheldon. Sheldon is not going to give them a discount. And they're not going to let two guys walk [Wilkerson and Richardson]. You're not going to have two homegrown guys, Pro Bowl guys walk away. So Sheldon is going to benefit from this."

The Jets have already exercised Richardson's fifth-year option for 2017, just as they did for Wilkerson in 2015. So Richardson's contract talks will probably begin to heat up next offseason, when the NFL's salary cap is expected to make a big jump. That also bodes well for Richardson's chances of perhaps cashing in.

Thursday's Esiason-Carton charity softball game, which the Esiason-Carton local celebrities team played against Port Authority police officers, raised money for the families of the five police officers recently killed in Dallas.

Esiason said the game was originally going to raise money for the Port Authority PBA Widows' and Children's Fund. (Thirty-seven Port Authority police officers died on 9/11.) But after the Dallas shootings, the Port Authority cops decided to send the money down to Texas, said Esiason.

Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.