I meant QBs who could make it as starters. Turning into a star is a different thing. Both Fields and Jones has college careers worthy of thinking they could cut it in the NFL. Wilson didn't have anything suggesting this. It was an epic reach and a stupid gamble.
Fields looked like a running QB who would likely have injury issues that turned him into a weak QB overall. Jones looked like a solid backup. The way the draft should have gone is: 1. Lawrence 21-36. Fields (to a playoff team that wanted to take the time to develop him.) 3rd round. Jones 4th round. ZW, Trask 6th round. Lance, Davis, Mills 7th round. Book. QB fever is what led to the order and rounds we saw.
Fields had 66 TDs to 9 ints his last two years, and threw 8 TDs in the 2020 postseason. Jones threw for 4500 yards and won a national championship while running a pro style offense with a near perfect QBR. They were both clear top 15 choices, that only went as low as they did because that draft was stacked with talent, and analyst hype. Mills and Mond probably went where they should have. We should have taken one of them to come in and compete, while trading the #2.
Jones started for one season at Alabama. No one season wonder should ever sniff the 1st round. Fields should have gone in the same range that Lamar Jackson and Derek Carr did. He had similar credentials - just a much stronger team on the field around him at OSU.
Aha... they "know" that they made the biggest draft mistake in the team's history... yep, no assumptions here. The only thing they know, is that they have a raw, talented kid, & they don't know how to develop him. So, the key question is what do they do? Do they follow the fans & media, & just give up on the kid? Do they stubbornly keep doing what hasn't worked? OR, do they bring in an experienced QB coach/mentor/aficionado/tutor/guru, to work with Zach? Everything else is extraneous noise, relating to the QB position.
Jones started 4 games his sophmore year and had over 1500 passing yards and 14 TDs. Fields had a much better college career than Jackson passing the ball.
I hope you realize that "raw" developmental quarterbacks don't get drafted at #2 overall? If you draft a quarterback so high, you don't expect him to go through the development process throughout his entire rookie contract. He hasn't shown any progress in 2 years and, as I said, the fanbase has turned on him. There's no coming back for him in NYC.
San Francisco drafted a raw prospect at the 3 pick.. They keep drafting QB though and now are winning games with a throwaway pick.
That's the problem with this fanbase, they don't understand the problems Wilson has, are not the problems drafted that high should ever have, they just resort back to the broken record claim, Jets don't know how to develop a QB
In response to the OP, Saleh doesn't have to announce who the QB is on Thursday because we all know its gonna be Zach. He has no viable options thanks to the insane attachment to Flacco as some kind of veteran mentor and the obvious CFL bias towards Streveler. Streveler cannot see the field and succeed without bringing extreme embarrassment to JD, Woody and the rest of the FO/CS. The politics of Zach playing far outweigh the benefits of Streveler and Flacco playing and succeeding. Saleh really has no choice but to play Zach. He can be coy all he wants but the outcome is inevitable. MW never throws another pass this year for the Jets.
I agree with everything until the last sentence. If we win Thursday, White takes every remaining snap until he's dead or we lose.
I don't see how that happens. They're so deep into making Zach a hero that they will stop at nothing short of a locker room revolt to keep Zach on the field. I would imagine their collective wet dream would be for the players trot out wearing Zach F'n Wilson T-shirts or chanting "Zach!" after a win. They need Zach to be the hero desperately. Maybe MW gets lucky and a contract from a team with a NFL level OL and veteran OC. That would be just reward for the shit he went thru here. They want Zach to be The Hero? Fine. If they want to see what at true FQB looks like? one is coming to town Thursday night.
The season was fun while it lasted. Saleh is hoping that MW is ready to go so he can start him. The fact is, he doesn't trust Zach and no one should. I'm 100% certain Mike White will NOT be ready to go Thursday. The Jets will be starting Zach and make no mistake, Zach is infinitely WORSE than Mike White and barely better than Flacco. The fact is, right now the Jets have one OK QB in Mike White who could probably be the 2nd string guy on most teams right now. He's NOT good enough to be a full-time starter. However, he's the most appealing option for the Jets at this moment. Maybe he'll get better with time? I do hold out hope for that. I love that the team loves him and he's earned my respect with his toughness. Flacco and Zach need to go! I'm so done with BOTH. Honestly, I don't ever want to see Zach start again for the Jets. He's worse than the worst starting QB's in NFL history and he's an immature, selfish little a$$hole. Flacco just needs to retire. No disrespect just need you to move on. What's worse is this season hinges on ZACH!? The OL has packed it up and gone home weeks ago. They've played like sh*t since the Buffalo game and I really don't think they have much of an excuse for that? There's good enough players playing right now. Honestly, I think the OL coach should be fired in the offseason. There's no excuse for what we're seeing. There's no way Zach starting ends well? I think they are going to lose against the Jags with Zach starting. How badly we missed drafting a QB will be on full display Thursday night. We should see Zach and the OL piss our season away Thursday if my prediction is correct. At this point, I'm hoping the Jets lose out. If we finish 7-10 we still have a chance at drafting a very impactful player.....
It’s almost like building a good team makes it infinitely easier to plug in a questionable QB and be successful anyway.
Respect, C-Man, but that's not the right take imo. Of course Saleh has to maintain positive vibes and "believe" in Zach, but it's no longer a gray area about who's the better option if both are available. White sees the field between the hashes and Zach does not. Zach either rips a (poorly thrown) slant, or else the short middle of the field becomes completely invisible to him. Say what you will about Saleh, but he's not a complete idiot.
Surprise! Another guy who played tons of college football that just understands where to throw the ball.
I agree Saleh is no moron, but he knows the lay of the land too. There's no question who is the more polished QB as the entire planet knows Mike White is that answer. Mike's ribs are the wild card here and medically, I think 3 ribs mending enough to take a direct hit without damage is a stretch. That being said, why be coy about who is gonna start Thursday? Much easier to just say MW probably won't be able to start due to injury. Keeps the locker room happy and makes his bosses happy at the same time. It also means the end of any playoff chance the Jets may have had going in. Saleh is starting to realize that there's more to being a HC than what's going on at field level. Politics matter especially with all the intrigue regarding Zach's uncle being a BF with Woody, where Zach was drafted, and how much the FO/CS has invested not the least of which is Woody's cash. JD also has skin in this intrigue too. All things considered in a perfect situation, Mike White starts no question about it. In JetLand? Its always complicated. At most, ZWilson has '23 to get his shit together. If not then its the end of the Zach Wilson error in NY.
I think if there is one thing in retrospect that should have been done (and I say this because it was discussed at the time, not saying this in hindsight), is a vet QB not named Joe Flacco should have been here to compete with Zach until he earned it, or afford us the ability to redshirt him. That is one thing I will say the Jets got very wrong in this whole situation. Having a prospect like Zach essentially be handed the job from day 1 was a major miss.
To be fair I think they did have a plan to correct the deficiencies but that plan died with Greg Knapp. Lots of businesses go though succession planning but this CS was new so nobody had really earned anything yet, and that's besides the fact that nobody on the team was qualified (obviously) to fill that position anyway. Contingency plans are great but not everyone is so easily replaced.
