NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Wilson has looked the part, but real test will be in Carolina
SUMMER in the city has been a relative breeze for Zach Wilson. Now it gets real for the 22-year-old Jets rookie quarterback with the regular-season opener looming as the next hurdle in what the success-starved franchise hopes will be a long, productive, winning career.
Since he was drafted second overall in April, it seems like the most adversity Wilson has faced has been the occasional spot of traffic congestion between his apartment and the team facility.
Wilson — knock on wood — has remained healthy.
He’s had OTAs, minicamps and a full training camp to learn the offense and his teammates.
He’s gotten some quality preseason-game playing time
— six series, 42 plays, 15 of 20 for 191 yards, two TD passes, four scoring drives, no turnovers, no sacks and no three-and-outs. Wilson not only wasn’t sacked, but he barely took a hit.
He even got to spend several days in Green Bay gleaning tips from and observing his NFL idol Aaron Rodgers while the Jets and Packers scrimmaged together.
Now — to borrow from the great NFL wordsmith Bill Belichick — Wilson and the Jets are on to Carolina, where he’ll make his NFL debut on Sept. 12 against the Panthers.
Training camp came to an official close last week and this week marks Wilson’s first crack at game-planning and preparing for a real NFL opponent.
“Everything [Wilson] does from here on out is about Carolina and studying their tape and trying to find ways to improve his game so he can slow the game down the best he can so he can play the best he can,’’ Jets coach Robert Saleh said Monday.
Is the kid up to the task?
Wilson, after all, produced those clean preseason numbers against second and thirdteam defensive players. The Panthers will not be playing their JV on Sept. 12.
“He’s going to get whole set of looks coming up, the speed of the game is going to change, the way teams attack from a defensive perspective is going to change,’’ Saleh said. “So, his ability to learn and process and slow the game down as quickly as he can is going to be what matters most. We like where he’s at. His process and how he prepares has us very confident in the fact that he’s going to be able to absorb all that information and execute it at a high level. He shows great poise.’’
Listening to two Jets veteran players, one from each side of the ball, on Monday was revealing about the moxy Wilson brings to the huddle and the strides he’s taken.
“He’s really grown,’’ Jets center Connor McGovern said. “He’s taken huge strides from OTAs to now and he looks like a real professional quarterback. I’m expecting big things. The way he carries himself in a game is phenomenal. He’s what I would call a ‘gamer.’ Not that he doesn’t practice well, but he takes it to a whole ’nother notch when it’s game time.
“I’ve been really impressed with his huddle presence during games. The way he goes about handling the whole drive, it’s totally different than in practice. I think every great [quarterback] is like that.’’
McGovern said he doesn’t watch a lot of college football, so he didn’t know a lot about Wilson when the Jets drafted him.
“He looks like he’s really younger than he is,’’ McGovern said. “[I’ve been] surprised by how he carries himself.’’
From the other side of the ball, Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley has seen what McGovern has witnessed from closer range.
“The first thing you notice is his confidence and poise in the pocket,’’ Mosley said. “That hasn’t really changed since his first day out here. He’s been one of those guys where I really haven’t heard his voice a lot, but his play speaks loudly. There are going to be ups and downs in the season — especially for a rookie quarterback in this market in New York, but we all have his back 100 percent.’’
Mosley said the defense in practice has tried to throw everything at Wilson in an effort to prepare him for what opponents, beginning with Carolina, will try against him.
“Any little thing an opponent is going to try to do, we try to do as well,’’ he said. “But when the live bullets really come, sometimes you’ve got to learn how to fly on your own. There will be some mistakes for him and there will be some big plays for him. As long as he keeps an evenkeel I think he’s going to have a great career.’’