The different points you make are true. However, here's the rub: ZW is NOT a leader. Leadership qualities are either there or not. You can build up a leader, hone leadership, develop it. However, the base quality has to be there first. ZW, I repeat, is NOT a leader. I don't care if he can throw a ball through a brick wall, whilst it lands with feather lightness in the hands of a receiver. He is not a leader. Make no mistake, the Jets FO knew this before the draft but thought they could build a leader. Douglas is a rookie GM so he'll learn. A final note, other people know who the leaders are. They gravitate to them. The men on an NFL team are no different. You hear terms like, "I'll run through a brick wall for that guy." "I've got his back." On and on... We see it on the field right now. Look at the PALPABLE difference in the teams' performance, body language and attitude when Mike White is on the field. Heck, you can feel it through the TV screen. ZW will never have that no matter if he stays, goes to another team or leaves the NFL and goes into the regular work force.
He doesn't appear to be a natural leader. He seems to do/say what he thinks a leader is supposed to do. I agree with you up to here. But this is not the place for a discussion on whether/if leadership can be learned, or if winning makes you a leader. personally I do believe in leading by example, so if ZW can somehow step out of the fog and prove he can win football games, I'm happy.
I'll be around shortly after midnite folks. Lets see who gets to shit the last turd on ZW before the new year!! (Really hoping you guys get the kid out of your systems..)
Most QBs are not natural born leaders of men. Some are, most are not. All a QB needs to be successful is to be really good at his job and not be a dick to fans or teammates. If he takes the blame when the team fails, and is quick to give credit to his teammates when successful, and is not a me-me-me first dude, he'll be OK. Zack's lacking in the bold part, and is growing in the other areas.
I've got 3 or 4 Zach Wilson thread ideas. Don't worry! Today will be wild! I have about 5 or 6 scheduled for the New Year too.
This is the Josh Rosen problem also. No demonstrated ability to connect with his teammates as a whole. This is part of the problem of being a privileged child. When you get handed the QB job at 11 or 12 in middle school it's likely because your parents are influential and have some real pull. The natural choice at QB would be to find the guy with a decent arm and whom everybody else gravitates to naturally. However if that guy doesn't have some real influence behind him the job will go to the kid who does. I saw this play out over several years in girls little league softball. The shortstop and the pitcher were usually from the best connected families even if they were error machines and extremely wild. These were the prestige positions and they went to the children of influential families. The district had a very tight confrontation between those families and the coaches of the All-Star team when an unconnected girl who was a much better pitcher got the primary role in the regional playoffs. The coaches held firm and got to the regional finals and then got fired when that game was lost.
This is foolishness. This is just so completely absurd. Listen, I don't know if Zach will ever get it between the ears? Only time will answer that question. But what I do know is with good performance comes good leadership. You are automatically considered to be a good leader when you perform well. If Zach turns his play around the team WILL gravitate in his direction and that's a fact. Now, I'll admit it certainly doesn't seem likely right now but to summarily pass judgment on the kid saying he'll never be a leader is nonsense.
Another Zach Wilson thread you say? and a hopeful one at that. What happen to the good ole days of crushing this soft punk? I hope this optimistic view on him doesn't become a trend going into the New Year.
I actually looked back at Zach's College tape to see where people went wrong. A small minority who didn't think he was a 1st round prospect point to the flaws he had in College, which are the same one he has today. But every QB had flaws in College. When you project someone, you anticipate that some of the mechanical and other flaws can be fixed. Otherwise no one deserves to go 1st round. The problem is that Zach hasn't fixed them in two years, while other guys like Fields and Lawrence got significantly better at theirs. You cannot really project that the guy would stop his growth like that. Kurt Warner mentioned that point the other day: can you process the information, do you have what it takes from the mental acuity standpoint. These are the things hard to project. And herein lies the concern: if Zach is unable to absorb, unable to learn, he will be unable to improve. That's why people say he has low QB IQ: he still has the same problems he had in College - two years later. Will he be able to learn and improve now that he had two years in the League to adjust? It's not out of realm of possibility, because he is still very young and things may click. But there is certainly a huge question mark there, due to no progress whatsoever in two years. That's why even Steve Young, his mentor in many ways, is saying Zach needs to fix Zach. Can he do that? Right now it feels like a tough ask.
