Muhammad Wilkerson isn’t in the mood to take all of the blame for the worst year of his NFL career.
That was clear Thursday when the veteran defensive lineman pointed a finger at the Jets’ athletic training staff for botching his comeback from offseason surgery on an ankle that ended up bothering him most of the season.
Though Wilkerson said he respects the team’s athletic trainers and has a good relationship with them, he revealed they didn’t come up with a plan to treat his ankle until late October.
“We just didn’t have a game plan as far as myself and the training staff going into the season, and we didn’t really get one until maybe halfway into the season,” Wilkerson said. “I’m happy that we did [devise] a plan and that it’s working. I guess that I thought I was good to go, but maybe I just needed more time and more rehab.”
Wilkerson has been the focus of intense fan criticism for repaying the Jets for his five-year, $86 million contract extension last summer with a dreadful 2016 season that mercifully ends for all the 4-11 Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium against the Bills.
Wilkerson, 27, enters the Buffalo game with just 3.5 sacks, one forced fumble and 55 total tackles in 14 games. The sack total is the lowest since his 2011 rookie campaign, and the entire output pales in comparison to the career-high 12 sacks and three forced fumbles last season that earned him the lucrative extension.
Wilkerson broke his fibula in the season finale last year and had surgery shortly afterward. He admitted Thursday he probably came back too soon, and Jets coach Todd Bowles didn’t help matters by having Wilkerson play almost every defensive snap through the season’s first six games.
It wasn’t until after Wilkerson missed the Jets’ Week 7 win over the Ravens that Bowles and the defensive coaches finally started to lighten Wilkerson’s heavy workload.
“It was my first major injury and something I’ve got to grow from,” Wilkerson said. “It’s feeling better now. The doctor who did the surgery told me it would take about a year to feel better and to get back to being the player that I am, so I’m happy about that.”
Bowles said recently Wilkerson’s play improved as he got healthier.
“I guess he fought so hard to get back,” Bowles said. “He was nicked up a little early on. [He’s] trying to get in a groove. Early in the year I saw a little bit of [a lack of explosiveness]. He’s still getting the kinks out of it sometimes, but he’s feeling a lot better now, so I expect to see a lot better Mo.”
So does Wilkerson, who is determined to improve his performance in the locker room, too, after witnessing some unspecified friction during this miserable season.
“It was a lot of different things,” Wilkerson told The Post of the internal feuding. “It was small things that turned into bigger things that caused issues in the locker room and caused dysfunction. We’ve just got to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“I’m really not a vocal person, and I lead by example,” Wilkerson added. “But I can maybe speak up a little more and come out of my comfort zone.”
Wilkerson also said he has no use for anyone who thinks he might have coasted this season after landing his first big contract.
“People are always going to criticize me regardless,” Wilkerson said. “I’m really not concerned about that. I know the player I am and capable of being, and the people in this building know who I am and what I can do. And that’s that.
“It really doesn’t matter what other people say. I’m not going to let that get me down because at the end of the day, they didn’t go through what I went through.”