Zach back, with long way to go
The energy was there to start practice. Zach Wilson was back and it was time to rock and roll. But the only unit rolling was from the defense.
Everyday practice brings positives and negatives. So here’s the bad news: Wilson’s first day back after missing the first two days of training camp was rough.
When you include the OTA and minicamp practices, it’s the worst Wilson has looked since he was drafted by the Jets.
Wilson knew it wasn’t his best performance. “Every day is going to have something frustrating,” Wilson said a day after finally signing his rookie contract. “But it’s going to be a process.”
Wilson’s throws sailed high and one was intercepted by Marcus Maye. At times, the rookie was hesitant because he wasn’t reading the defense quickly. His timing wasn’t good with his receivers and there were moments when he held the ball too long that resulted in sacks.
During team drills Wilson was 5-of-10 with a touchdown to Corey Davis and the INT.
Wilson started the practice with a bang, with a long bomb to Elijah Moore on a post route for 40 yards.
Jets Twitter was excited, but in reality it wasn’t a great pass. The ball was underthrown. It floated before finally dropping into Moore’s arms as he fell to the grass. Most of the credit for the completion goes to the second-round pick because Bryce Hall had tight coverage.
The franchise quarterback even acknowledged the pass should have been better.
“Not the greatest ball, something I can clean up,” Wilson said. “I could put it out there more to the left and let him run to it.”
That bomb was the highlight of the day, but red zone 7-on-7 was the low point.
Wilson was 1-for-6 and there were plays when he wasn’t seeing the field well.
Wilson’s first throw to Tevin Coleman was in the flat, but it was behind the running back and fell incomplete. His next throw was a high dart into triple coverage to Chris Herndon that resulted in an incompletion. On the next play, the No. 2 overall pick threw a fade route to Keenan Cole, but Hall broke up the play.
The following sequence, the Jets put Wilson on the move as they rolled him right with a quick-pick play to Jamison Crowder, but Javelin Guidry had air-tight coverage. Incomplete. Right after, Wilson held the ball as nobody was open and scrambled before forcing it into a small window. No good. His only completion of the series went to Austin Walter on a flat route.
Some of Wilson’s struggles came because of what the defense was doing to create a tough period for him.
“They mixed it up today with the one high zone (look) in the red zone,” Wilson said. “We just got to just find a way to execute down there.”
Friday was rough for the former BYU quarterback but here’s the good news: It’s practice and as the Hall of Famer Allen Iverson once said “We talkin’ about practice, not the game.”
To be fair, this was Wilson’s first practice with the offense. Friday was the defense’s third practice, so that unit is supposed to look better against a rookie QB on his first day.
Coach Robert Saleh knows it’s going to be a long process for his quarterback, but he has confidence in Wilson because of his mental makeup.
“For him it’s just finding a way to get better every day,” Saleh said. “Sometimes we can get focused on results, but there’s a process and he’s got a tremendous process. Can’t control certain things that happen, play in and play out, but you can control your process day in and day out. I already get a good feel just going through the draft process and OTAs, he’s going to have great processing.”