Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff Writer Zach Wilson clears 'awesome' hurdle in sprint to New York Jets' starting job FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Rookie Zach Wilson is the front-runner in the New York Jets' quarterback competition. He has a slim lead over former BYU star Zach Wilson. Yeah, it's a one-man show. Everybody knew that when the Jets drafted him No. 2 overall and nothing has changed. New York cleared a wide path to the starting job -- no veteran additions to the quarterback room -- and now it's all about getting Wilson ready for Sept. 12 against the Carolina Panthers. Experts can debate the pros and cons of throwing a rookie into the fire. The Jets, who did it with Sam Darnold (2018), Geno Smith (2013) and Mark Sanchez (2009), are committed to being a Zach Pack in Week 1. They spent the past four weeks (a dozen practices) feeding his brain with information, testing his recall and his mettle. He passed. "It's been a learning curve for him," Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said. "We've thrown a ton at him. I thought these last two weeks have been awesome for him. We've done so many call-it periods where he doesn't have the script. He just has to hear me through the walkie-talkie and make sure he calls it correctly and gets everybody aligned." An unscripted period is when the offensive coaches don't know the defensive call -- and vice versa -- thus creating game-like spontaneity. Naturally, it's more challenging for the quarterback, especially a rookie. Wilson experienced a few hiccups, but there were no total meltdowns, at least not in the practices that were open to the media. That's an encouraging sign. On Tuesday and Wednesday in minicamp, Wilson showed an aggressive side, throwing downfield more than usual. That wasn't by design; it happened organically. He noticed the defense was sitting on short routes, so he countered by going deep. Wilson also made a subtle adjustment in red zone periods. In earlier practices, his five-step drop was too slow. Things happen fast in the red zone, and the timing between the quarterback and the wide receivers has to be in sync or else the play will be out of whack. Without prodding from the coaches, Wilson quickened the tempo on his five-step drop, demonstrating an innate feel for the game. "Pretty cool to watch," LaFleur said. These were only baby steps, of course. They were non-contact drills with no pads, so Wilson didn't have to worry about getting blindsided by a quarterback-hungry blitzer. Things will pick up in training camp, then a little more in the preseason games. He should pass those tests easily, considering he was the second pick in the draft. If he doesn't -- sound the alarms. In reality, an accurate read won't happen until the regular season. "Zach loves ball, that's one thing I've learned," Jets coach Robert Saleh said. "He's unflappable in the sense that he doesn't care whether [it] went good or bad. He wants to know why it went good or bad. He wants to learn from it. He's wired exactly the way you want all players to be wired. Now it's a matter of getting as many reps as possible [in training camp]." Wilson and 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville Jaguars) are expected to be the only rookies to start in Week 1. The other first-round quarterback picks -- Trey Lance (San Francisco 49ers), Justin Fields (Chicago Bears) and Mac Jones (New England Patriots) -- are behind seasoned veterans. The Jets decided against that route, in part to give Wilson a chance to establish himself among teammates in the offseason. "He's going to be a problem [for defenses]," Jets tackle Mekhi Becton said. "He's really good." New York guard Greg Van Roten said, "I've been impressed. You hear a lot of hype about guys coming out of college and going through the draft process. You get in front of them and you see they're just normal guys, just human beings. Zach is definitely somebody that makes throws that you raise your eyebrow." Wilson played in a similar offense at BYU, which has helped the transition, but he admitted there are times when the playbook seems like it's written in Latin and things get moving so fast that it's hard to separate the good days from the bad days. "It's hard to say exactly how you did," Wilson said. "Personally, in my eyes, I feel I can improve every single day. I feel like I'm learning something every single day. Even on the good days, it's still frustrating, and it's just because it's like a foreign language. Every single day it's the same plays, but you're getting different reps, different looks at it, different defensive coverages." Since 2008, 16 of the 35 quarterbacks drafted in the top 10 were opening-day starters, most recently Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals), Kyler Murray (Arizona Cardinals) and Darnold, Wilson's predecessor. Barring injury, Wilson will join that list. Now it's a race against the calendar to get him as ready as possible
Mark Sanchez and Sam Darnold say hello. They both looked "great" after their first mini-camp also on an unopposed path to starting for the Jets day one. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Ya ain't fooling me a third time with the same old spiel.
Heard the same thing about Sanchez playing same offense in college heard this all before I am excited they didn't get a veteran like to see this James Morgan in preseason he looked like he has massive potential of being elite QB when he was at FIU like to see him get some reps.
A very lazy bone. Everything in his article was recycled stories that we have already read days ago from other beat writers. It was like Cimini woke up and thought he better write something nice for once about Zach and desperately repackaged work already done by others.
Its certainly better to hear this than he sucked, thats for sure. But this still means very little to me. This team has been too bad for too long for optimism. Just gotta see it with my own eyes.
Maybe you saw some of this stuff days ago, but I didn't. I hadn't seen any of the positives from practice mentioned by others. I've been reading DJ Bien-Aime's reports on Twitter and Connor Hughes from The Athletic, Robbie Sabo, Michael Nania, and many Jets fans who tweet and re-tweet info. Who are you following that I'm not? I think it's good for Cimini to have to write some positive stuff.
I know, I know. Typical Jets for whatever reason. Reasons? Well, maybe the third time will be a charm . : /
Do you watch much college football? If you did, then you would know that shitty Sam Darnold and Mark Sanchez coming out of college were nowhere near Zach in terms of fundamentals and the ability to process information at a quick pace. Zach already starts off way ahead of those 2 clowns.
Good question. I do the normal stuff like you xfactor, turn on the jets, jetspress, ganggreen nation but at least a couple of times a day i do a google search "ny jets news" and there is always something that I have not seen. The google search on your phone is so nice as it time stamps articles. I think a lot of this might have been on the end of camp media question and answer with each position coach which I think was on nyjets.com. I got sucked into it the other day. It had the OC, DC, Knapp, Wilson and all the position coaches answering questions for 15 minutes each but i believe some info was also in articles which likely got written from what was said at the press conferences.
The best football things I see are usually from reading threads on this website. People post great videos especially around draft time. Things, I likely would never see absent someone posting. Our best resource is the people here. But, what could really use an update is the newsfeed for the forum that lists auto-generated articles. It misses a lot of jet websites.
Well said. The last time we selected a QB who dominated NCAA football quite like Zach Wilson was Chad Pennington coming out of Marshall. Zach Wilson: (2020). 12 games. 247/336 (73.5%). 3,692 passing yards. 11.0 yards per pass attempt. 33 TDs/3 INTs. 254 rushing yards and 10 rushing TDs. 43 Offensive TDs (combined). QB Rating of 196.4. Mark Sanchez: (2008). 13 games. 241/366 (65.8%). 3,207 passing yards. 8.8 yards per pass attempts. 34 TDs/10 INTs. 16 rushing yards and 3 rushing TDs. 37 Offensive TDs (combined). QB Rating of 164.6. Sam Darnold (2017). 14 games. 303/480 (63.1%). 4,143 passing yards. 8.6 yards per pass attempt. 26 TDs/13 INTs. 82 rushing yards and 5 rushing TDs. 31 Offensive TDs (combined). QB Rating of 148.1. In regards to efficiency, explosiveness and natural arm talent come on neither one of Mark Sanchez or Sam Darnold were within the same stratosphere as Zach Wilson (coming out).
Sanchez and Darnold played in the Pac-10/12 in normal seasons. Wilson played in the the FBS Independent during a pandemic that saw BYU's already questionable schedule reduced to close to joke level. I shouldn't have to explain that but we have a bad case of QB fever that has been running through the fanbase for about 6 months now.
Of course we all need to keep a sound perspective since nothing Wilson has done has been in pads against real defenses, but the signs are as encouraging as you could want. The kid is a football junkie, but even more, he's a never quit competitor, regardless of what he's doing. He's always looking for an edge, and he long ago grasped the concept that preparation is the key to that. The only thing that could derail him at all is injury, and JD is doing all he can to prevent that from happening - of course there are no guarantees. IDK how any of the other first round QBs will turn out, but I don't care as long as Wilson fulfills his potential, which IMO is unlimited.
On the flip side both Sam Darnold and Mark Sanchez were surrounded by A+ talent for a legendary USC Football program.. While Zach Wilson played for BYU you know a Football program that's only produced six (6) 1st round NFL talents dating back to 1949 (one of them being Steve Young). What Zach Wilson did @ BYU last year was absolutely incredible. Imo the main reason why NFL QBs from big time powerhouse programs from Alabama/Ohio State/FSU/Gators/Hurricanes etc always fall flat is because @ college they're surrounded by 4/5 star blue chip recruits and @ QB always had an overwhelming advantage against much lesser college defenses so by the time they've made the NFL once on an even playing field they more times than not often times absolutely stink. As a QB it's your responsibility and your job to carry your offense and make your teammates better (not the other way around) right. STEVE YOUNG, BYU. TERRY BRADSHAW, LOUISIANA TECH. DAN FOUTS, OREGON. DAN MARINO, PITTSBURGH. JOHN ELWAY, STANFORD. BRETT FAVRE, SOUTHERN MISS. KURT WARNER, NORTHERN IOWA. WARREN MOON, WASHINGTON. STEVE MCNAIR, ALCORN STATE. DOUG WILLIAMS, GRAMBLING. PHIL SIMMS, MOREHEAD STATE. RICH GANNON, DELAWARE. CHAD PENNINGTON, MARSHALL. DREW BREWS, PURDUE. BEN ROETHLISBERGER, Miami of Ohio. TONY ROMO, EASTERN ILLINOIS. PHILIP RIVERS, N.C STATE. MATT RYAN, BOSTON COLLEGE. AARON RODGERS, CALIFORNIA. RUSSELL WILSON, N.C STATE/WISCONSIN. TONY ROMO, EASTERN ILLINOIS. DAK PRESCOTT, MISSISSIPPI STATE. LAMAR JACKSON, LOUISVILLE. JOSH ALLEN, WYOMING. JUSTIN HERBERT, OREGON. PATRICK MAHOMES, TEXAS TECH. Nah. You do not have to Quarterback for powerhouse(s) @ Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Ohio State, LSU, USC, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, FSU, Florida, Miami, Tennessee and Georgia in order to one day shoot your NFL shot as an NFL QB. There's nothing more frustrating than Jets fans doubting Zach Wilson, all because he went to BYU. I'd much rather have my NCAA prospect be a kid who (truly) carried his Football program on his back (Zach Wilson) rather than another 1st round QB (Mac Jones) who was carried by his teammates (Najee Harris, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith, Evan Neal, Leatherwood and Dickerson) etc. Could be electricity could be fun rooting for Zach Wilson watching him sling the rock with real NFL talents surrounding him inside the huddle (something he's never really played with before).
This is a nice debate. • QBs who've made it from smaller schools. vs. • QBs who've busted despite coming from historical football programs. We'll begin to realize that no. we don't always need to draft that hyped up QB from a legendary school because not only do they often times not work out (league wide) sometimes it's just that underrated underdog who's special. As the one who had to put himself on the map without ESPN games every weekend for exposure by carrying those around him (his teammates) while making them better. He has the Rookie confidence Jeter of 1996 had coming into NY.. He's going to Knicks and Islanders game with his teammates man. They're having a blast. His Offensive Lineman already love him. As a man 36, I love to see this in our youth. Kids getting together and ready to fight. Kids who make NY sports fun. Jets showing up for the Islanders Playoffs? Man. It's like we love our Jets so much since childhood that even as 94 NY Rangers kids here in 2021 we wanted NY to beat Boston. I wouldn't bet against this kid. Because sometimes in Vegas the underdog pays out the most.
Darnold struggled in his first camp. Sanchez did as well. They need to say goodbye from your mind. The reports that they played well were from Rex and Bowles, not the reporters who said they struggled. With Wilson the reporters and coaches are raving about his play
