Looks like CJ likes what he sees. And this guy is coming from a team that has seen Superbowl last year. Truly encouraging signs. Don't want to go crazy enthusiastic but truly can't wait for training camp. @GQMartin - Tailgate at 6 AM first day of training camp bro!
This is a bigger story than we realize. A locker room full of young guys getting after it and happy to be busting their asses is the very culture JD has preached about getting team captains who love to play the game and the money will come. So many players are the exact opposite....do just what you gotta do to go bank where the whole TC, workouts, diets, game day hits are just a necessary evil to getting to their payday. A team full of dedicated young men who love the game and love getting better every day to beat the other guy is a fun team to have. And to watch. We're lucky so far.
One of the notorious trends in the NFL is the sophomore slump. Saleh has talked about it before -- rookies come in, and they go non-stop from their senior season to combine prep to rookie minicamp to OTAs to fall camp and through a 17-game season that is much longer than anything they ever experienced in college football. When their rookie year is finally over, they are tired, banged up rich, famous, and free to do whatever they want. So a lot of them don't have the discipline to be a professional who takes a 2-week vacation and then keeps putting in 8-hour days and 5-day weeks throughout the offseason. By contrast, everything we have ever heard about Zach is that the guy is a workhorse. He became a bit of a legend on that front right after his freshman year at BYU, when he spent part of the summer at John Beck's 3DQB and Drew Brees was there as well. Zach later did an interview in which he described being blown away by the amount of work and effort Brees put in -- while Zach had always seen himself as hard working, he saw a work and effort level in Brees that was way beyond anything Zach had seen in a football player, and Wilson realized he could crank it up a lot higher than he had been. I can't say whether the other sophomores have similar stories from their college days or whether they are just taking queues from Zach or others that are working ridiculously hard. But once that culture sets in, it makes it awkward for people not to keep up. As for it translating into performance on the field, I think that's inevitable.
Good to hear a seasoned vet say these things. Hopefully it is not just lip service and translates to the field on game days.
I love what I'm seeing so far in regards to Zach's attitude and work ethic, but nothing is inevitable. Progress would be great to see this year, will be watching closely.
Not sure he can do any worse than his rookie year. 'Sophomore slump' implies the player had a good rookie season. Mekhi Becton had a sophomore slump for example. Zach Wilson has to get out of the basement, period. A "slump" when you are already the leagues worst starting QB is a death knell
