An unnecessary win by the New York Jets over the Los Angeles Rams in 2020 set the stage for one of the worst quarterbacks ever to step foot on a football field. With the victory, the Jets got their first win of the season in their fourteenth game which helped disqualify them from receiving the rights to the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Before the win, New York was in prime position to select quarterback Trevor Lawrence. However, the Jacksonville Jaguars earned the first pick and selected the former Clemson star. Still on the board were many notable playmakers, from LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase to fearsome Penn State edge rusher Micah Parsons. The New York Jets, desperate for a franchise QB, decided to gamble on BYU’s Zach Wilson. The following three years have been unkind.
Any time a player is drafted as high as Wilson, the team tries to justify the pick even when the outcome has been less than ideal. No team wants to admit they wasted their selection, making it reasonable to give as much time to the player as possible to start playing better. However, there comes a point where the franchise begins to suffer because of that decision. In roughly three years as the team’s starter, Wilson has easily been the worst quarterback to be seen since the likes of legendary draft busts Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell.
A large problem for Wilson and the Jets has been the absence of any promise in the NFL so far in his career. It is not uncommon for a rookie QB to struggle early. Peyton Manning famously tossed a then-record twenty-eight interceptions as a rookie. But through the development process, there should be growth and flashes of brilliance displayed if a team wants to justify their faith in their young QB. The Indianapolis Colts witnessed that in Manning, and it turned out wonderfully for them. However, for Wilson and the Jets, the experience has been far from delightful. Observing Wilson make a remarkable throw at Pro Day before the draft, a play that saw the BYU product roll to his left, set his feet, and fire a rocket over sixty yards down the field, was all the convincing the Jets needed at the time. The franchise has been attempting to justify their draft bust ever since.
Wilson’s first two years were awful, to put it politely. Starting from day one, he was thrust into the fire and has never settled in. In thirteen games played as a rookie, he threw a measly nine touchdowns against eleven interceptions accompanied by less than average QB ratings. He finished 3-10 that season. In nine games in his second season, he threw only six touchdowns against seven interceptions. Despite him playing, the team surprisingly won five of his starts. For any NFL analyst or weekly viewer, it was clear that the overall team was decent, but it was the QB play that was holding them back. The most glaring evidence for this occurred in the team’s 10-3 loss to the New England Patriots. The Jets defense stifled Bill Belichick’s offense. Any adequate quarterback should win a game when the defense performs that well. The problem is that the Jets were not starting an adequate quarterback…they were starting Zach Wilson. He passed for 77 yards on 9-22 with a QBR of under 51. The Patriots won on a punt return as time expired.
Wilson continued to start for lack of better options on the team. When the offseason arrived, the Jets attempted to make amends for their mistake, and they traded for superstar Aaron Rodgers only for him to tear his Achilles before completing his first pass. All of New York groaned when Wilson was once again the starter. While the injury to Rodgers was disappointing, the NFL world wondered if his mentorship on Wilson in the offseason might have positively affected the former second overall pick. Eleven games into the 2023 campaign, Wilson is the same player with an argument to be made that he is worse than before. In ten games, he has familiar stats with six touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Going forward, the Jets are favoring Tim Boyle as the starting quarterback. Boyle, undrafted in 2018, has had limited playing time in the NFL. He has three career touchdowns and nine career interceptions. His college stats at UConn and Eastern Kentucky are equally unimpressive. He threw twelve touchdowns and twenty-six interceptions across four years at the two schools.
As embarrassing as it is for the Jets to admit their mistake, it is the right decision to bench Wilson. It is even more humiliating considering the franchise trusts an un-drafted player over their former top pick. It is unclear what made the BYU QB stand out before the 2021 draft apart from his pro day performance, but one observation has been made clear in the three years since: Zach Wilson is not to be trusted on an NFL field.
