Jets’ Wilson enjoys ‘fanboy’ moment with Rogers

Zach Wilson used to watch Aaron Rodgers on TV as a kid as often as he could, admiring the Green Bay Packers quarterback from afar.

The youngster from Draper, Utah, wanted to play like Rodgers and modeled some of his game after him. Wilson even drew some comparisons to Rodgers en route to being drafted No. 2 overall by the New York Jets in April.

“I’ve always tried to copy what he’s been doing because he’s done it for such a long time,” Wilson said. “He’s just a fun player to watch and he just plays the game the right way.”

With Lambeau Field as the backdrop Wednesday, Wilson got a chance to practice — and chat — with one of his boyhood idols.

“We’re all technically at the same level now, we’re all in the NFL,” Wilson told reporters in Green Bay, “but we’re all kind of like, ‘That’s Aaron Rodgers. That’s kind of crazy.’ It’s still a great tool for us just to be able to learn from him and kind of see what he’s doing.”

The Jets and Packers are holding two joint practices, Wednesday and Thursday, ahead of their preseason game Saturday. It gives both teams a chance to work against another set of players on another team.

It also provided the Jets’ young quarterbacks an opportunity to see Rodgers up close.

During special teams drills, Rodgers approached Wilson and they spoke for a few minutes — and then Jets backups Mike White and James Morgan, who grew up near Green Bay and idolized Rodgers and Brett Favre, joined them.

“James was a big fanboy; he was getting a little nervous,” Wilson joked. “Nah, I’m a big fanboy, too. We all kind of got to pretend like we’ve been there before. We enjoy just being out here and being able to talk to him.”

Wilson recently acknowledged Tom Brady is the game’s greatest quarterback, but was always drawn to Rodgers. He didn’t own a Rodgers jersey or characterize himself as a Packers fan, but Wilson constantly took mental notes on Rodgers.

“He was always the game I always wanted to watch on Sundays,” Wilson said. “I always made sure I was watching his full games, what he was doing.”