https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/06/20/brandon-staley-moving-forward-mmqb?utm_source=reddit.com I’m really interested to see where 2022 takes Zach Wilson. Nationally, there hasn’t been much talk about where the Jets quarterback is headed after a tumultuous rookie year. But having asked about Wilson, if I were a fan, I’d feel pretty good about the spot he’s in, mostly because of how far he’s come after, in midseason of last year, incurring what might best be described as a case of the yips. It’s why the team brought in his personal throwing coach, John Beck. The fact was Wilson had too much going through his head, and that was apparent almost right away. Coming out of Week 1, I’m told, he actually had a conversation with Aaron Rodgers that illustrated it. That Friday night of Week 2, he and Rodgers were catching up over the phone, and Rodgers asked what he was doing. Wilson responded that he was at the facility looking at tape. Rodgers's response? Roughly, Dude, what are you doing? Wilson’s work was admirable of course, but trying to do too much too fast wound up becoming a problem. And so coming out of last year, the Jets offensive staff worked to make things easier on him. Here’s how it happened … • Right after the season, coordinator Mike LaFleur and QBs coach Rob Calabrese went through the scheme and play calling from 2021, and found too much volume, and a bunch of plays that statistically weren’t producing. So they resolved to clean up the offense. • The system that they’d run, mostly under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, really had not been operated by a player that young before (unless you count Robert Griffin III, who was running something very different, a hybrid of his college offense, in 2012). Which told the staff that making it work for Wilson meant “cleaning up the offense” had to equate reducing volume. • And part of that would mean really showing Wilson how simple the system could be, and how, if there were 60 concepts, really, those concepts probably fit into six buckets, with 10 calls in each being very similar to the next (with variations in formations, personnel grouping, etc. to throw the defense off). • From there, the coaches made it so, if in a single practice, Wilson ran, say, 12 plays, the 12 included two from each of the six buckets, to reinforce that he’s really running a total of six plays, with the next practice including two different plays from each of the six buckets. So far? So good. On the second day of OTAs, Wilson had a good practice, then a shaky walkthrough, which made the staff a little nervous. Turns out, he was sick, and had to miss the team’s third OTA as a result. He came back for the fourth OTA, and by the fifth session, he was ascending again, and kept taking steps forward from there through the team’s minicamp. It’s also worth mentioning that backup Joe Flacco has helped him, telling him to be more focused on what he’s doing, and less on the defense, to further simplify the process. The Shanahan system, the coaches have emphasized to Wilson, has answers for him that don’t require him to worry as much about the other team, and Flacco has reminded him that very few quarterbacks (e.g. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady) have full command of everything happening out there. And none of those quarterbacks, Flacco’s advice goes, had it in their second year. Which, really, cuts to the heart of all of this for the Jets—all they’re trying to do now is have him be the best 22-year-old quarterback he can be. “Last year, he worked his ass off,” one staffer said. “But he tried to learn so much so fast, and that’s probably where we failed him.” And, regardless of where this takes Wilson in 2022, that won’t happen again.
These are not Staley's thoughts about Wilson, they are Breer's thoughts about Wilson. The Staley section of the article is separate from the section with Breer's thoughts on Wilson.
"And part of that would mean really showing Wilson how simple the system could be, and how, if there were 60 concepts, really, those concepts probably fit into six buckets, with 10 calls in each being very similar to the next" That's an issue, Bill Belichick can figure out those 6 buckets quicker and easier than Wilson. "Flacco has reminded him that very few quarterbacks (e.g. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady) have full command of everything happening out there. And none of those quarterbacks, Flacco’s advice goes, had it in their second year." This might be good advice for a friend, ie, "relax buddy, most people suck at this", but its not in the best interest of the team.
And that’s bad news considering both Wilson and BB have been doing this the exact same amount of years.
True, but he was drafted where he was (no.2 overall) largely because of his smarts, and the belief that he could handle an NFL playbook. If they have to dial it back, its concerning to me because they coulda gotten a QB with a good arm who needed a scaled back playbook in round 2 or 3 like every year
Wilson shouldn't have played until the 2nd half of the season. We had an entire offense learning a new system, as well as the new QB. Scaling back the playbook and slowly bringing him along is fine for a rookie QB. I'm concerned if they have to do it year 2 and beyond.
If the Jets had drafted Patrick Mahomes they no doubt would have tried to fit him in a dink and dunk offense that saw his receivers with very sore hands from trying to catch rockets at 10 paces.
I’m sarcastically making the point that it’s asinine to bring up Belichick, the greatest coach of all time, knowing the system he’s coached against for decades better than the rookie QB.
Well the QB is no longer a rookie, and he has to play against Belichick twice this season (barring injury)
This is proof that the rookie HC and OC didn't have any comprehension of how to coach a rookie QB. To their credit - and giving us all reason to have some optimism in them getting better over time - they began making adjustments during the season realizing that they had made things too complicated for a rookie QB. And over the off season they've figured out how to streamline things even more.
Anything that can help Zach make better decisions pre & post snap has got to be a plus. Holding on to the ball too long and reticent throws were his major defects.
