How it all went so wrong for Zach
ZACH Wilson’s ill-fated Jets career ended with a whimper on Wednesday — still in concussion protocol and unavailable for the season finale against the Patriots in Foxborough. “Whether it’s here or somewhere else,” Robert Saleh said, “I believe he’s gonna have a helluva career.”
It will be somewhere else.
It has to be somewhere else.
It has ended badly early for too many young Jets franchise quarterbacks not named Joe Namath.
Just ask Geno Smith.
Or Mark Sanchez.
Or Sam Darnold.
Wilson is only the latest.
“Unfortunate series of events,” is how Saleh framed it.
Why? How? What happened to Zach Wilson?
HE WASN’T A FRANCHISE QB: Broncos coach Sean Payton told me he had a low first-round grade on Wilson. Jets GM Joe Douglas saw the second overall pick of the NFL draft. ORGANIZATIONAL FAILURE: On the night the Jets drafted Wilson out of BYU to be their latest savior, Saleh had a war room phone message for him: “This organization is going to lift you, not the other way around.” Neither lifted the other and instead dragged the other down. Wilson simply wasn’t ready to be thrown into the fire the way Texans QB C.J. Stroud was this season as a rookie. But the Jets were so enamored with his arm talent that they couldn’t help themselves.
A book could have been written on The Coddling of Zach Wilson. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Boring football is OK, Zach. No need to play hero ball, Zach. The inexcusable was constantly excused in the name of progress. In the spring after Wilson’s rookie season, Douglas went on “The Michael Kay Show” and gushed: “I 100 percent see greatness.” The Jets never stopped seeing what they wanted to see. He wound up getting benched three times, and reluctantly at that. We were told that a reset might actually be beneficial for him. Saleh had no recourse other than to turn to Mike White last season after Wilson took no accountability following a 10-3 loss in Foxborough. Saleh is a defensive coach. All well and good; the head coach doesn’t need to be an offensive guru. But Mike LaFleur, as bright as he is, was a rookie OC cutting his teeth trying to develop Wilson. LaFleur was gone after two seasons, replaced by Nathaniel Hackett. Next question.
SUPPORTING CAST: LT Mekhi Becton (knee) couldn’t stay on the field in 2021 and missed the entire 2022 season (kneecap) after being moved to RT. He will be playing his last game as a Jet on Sunday against the Patriots. Invaluable versatile guard/tackle Alijah Vera-Tucker has played only 12 games across the last two seasons. Thirtyeight-year-old LT Duane Brown was a blindside injury risk and couldn’t contribute. Center Conner McGovern (kneecap) was lost against the Giants.
RB Breece Hall tore his ACL in Week 7 in 2022, leaving Wilson without a balanced attack last season. WR Denzel Mims was a secondround bust. WR Elijah Moore became disenchanted last season and was traded. WR Corey Davis quit in training camp. WRs Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb were Aaron Rodgers imports and nonfactors. Garrett Wilson somehow has 93 catches for 1,008 yards this season. Hall has flashed greatness following his early-season pitch count. Dalvin Cook is gone.
Douglas vowed to help Darnold with protectors and playmakers. He didn’t get enough of either. For either. He better get some fast for Rodgers.
NEW YORK: Wilson told us he ignored social media, a wise move for a kid from Draper, Utah. Would he have struggled in a smaller market? Probably. But still. “A lot of these times, high draft picks, you’re not always going into an 8-, 9-, 10win team,” Trevor Siemian told The Post. “You’re walking into a team that’s trying to figure it out. So you got the growth of being a rookie, but also trying to handle a team that’s probably trying to grow with ya. It’s really not easy.”
Wilson (23 TDs, 25 INTs in his three seasons) improved. But the bar was so low. His career completion percentage is 57.
The Jets are expected to decline his fifth-year option. He is guaranteed $5.5 million in salary and bonuses in 2024. Perhaps learning for a season under Rodgers could have been a careerchanger for him. We’ll never know.
“There’s no patience really for anybody, especially quarterbacks, and especially in this market,” Siemian said. “But I think Zach in the long run will be just fine.”
Would someone fork over a fifthround pick for Zach Wilson?
“I’ll be interested to see what kind of player he is when he’s 30,” Siemian said.
Wherever Zach Wilson is.