https://heavy.com/sports/new-york-jets/news-alex-smith-zach-wilson-saleh/ I think Smith is spot on with his criticism of Saleh's handling of Zach Wilson and the QB room. JD isn't blameless by any stretch of the imagination, either. He is the one who hired a defensive HC rather than hire an very experienced OC and QB Coach who had great success in developing QBs, and for allowing Saleh to hire MLF, who had zero experience calling plays or developing QBs.
Why would anyone care what Alex Smith has to say? Nobody cared when he said it in December, why is it an issue today?
The biggest mistake was also having a rookie offensive coordinator and play caller. There's no way they can also handle a rookie QB and their own stuff. For the most part I think Saleh created an environment that a QB could have done well, the offensive talent was good last year, but we had Zach. JD not giving Wilson any competition and handing him the job, and still with him being the automatic #2, was the biggest issue to all of this. Relying on a Saleh to develop the QB? Not sure that ever happened.
There were countless mistakes surrounding the Zach Wilson situation. None bigger than drafting him in the first place.
He really should have had to earn the job and a high end veteran should have been brought in. That's my biggest mistake (other than drafting him) LaFleur was a questionable hire. But Greg Knapp, a highly regarded veteran QB coach, was hired to work with him and then tragically died so that was an awful, unforeseeable turn of events and I wonder if he would have made a difference for him.
did he forget we had zachs coach and he unfortunately died in a freak accident, or that we brought in extra coaches at his request (beck). maybe it's not on the team but the player. the tools are there and they still are. it's really on zach at this point
Didn't it take Alex Smith like 5-6 years before he even looked serviceable? Blaming Saleh is the lazy way out. There is much more involved in a decision like that. In hindsight, they should have sat him behind a vet for year 1, but most fans wanted him starting and I don't think a backup vet in the first few weeks changes all that much in the grand scheme of things. The OC did Wilson no favors at all in his development and the oline was perpetually injured. If I was to rank who is to blame for Zach Wilson's failure: 1. Mike Lafleur (play calling was atrocious, never to Zach's strengths or team strengths. Stubbornly loyal to plays that simply didn't work with the personnel they had at the time) 2. Rob Calabrese (He had ONE JOB) 3. Zach Wilson (his attitude was immature) 4. Oline deterioration (Zach Wilson beat some good teams early in the season) 5. Rob Saleh (Made decisions on who to start/bench and when) 6. Joe Douglas (drafting him, oversaw Saleh and okayed his decision to start Zach day 1) Zach Wilson's story is not yet complete. He could actually follow in Alex Smith's footsteps to a T.
You're missing the most important point of all: Zach is not good at football by NFL starter standards.
Saleh isn't totally to blame, but he and JD share the major portion of the blame imo. To begin with, I don't think Saleh was the right hire. IMO Brian Daboll should have been the hire. He had many years experience working with and developing QBs and as an OC. He had helped to develop Josh Allen in Buffalo. We had rookie defensive HCs with Rex/Sanchez and Bowles/Sam. JD should have known better. After hiring Saleh, I'm sure the wanted to work well with Saleh so he let him hire who he wanted to. I think JD is the one who hired Greg Knapp, but with all else that was stacked against Zach, I'm not certain that Knapp would have been enough to make a difference. 1. The hire of LaFleur was an awful choice, and was basically because he was a good friend. That's totally on Saleh. 2. Calabrese had zero experience as a QB Coach. I have no clue why he was hired. Again, this is totally on Saleh. 3. Young kids are going to be somewhat immature. It's up to the adults (the CS) to coach/teach/work with a young QB or any young player and develop him. The responsibility is the coach's. Yes, the player must work and do his part, and I'm certain that Zach did that. What they asked of Zach (to start and play at a high level while changing his fundamentals and his approach/style of playing 180 degrees) along with a rookie HC, OC, and QB Coach, a mediocre OL, no veteran QB to watch and learn from, was unrealistic. 4.The OL was definitely a factor as were the inferior weapons and all the dropped passes. 5. Saleh not only made the decisions on who to start and when, but how Zach was to play. Initially, when he beat those good teams early, the Jets were being more aggressive offensively. Then after some TOs and poor play, Saleh got very conservative, and typically like other defensive HCs was more afraid of the QB making mistakes than learning and developing. Playing not to make mistakes, keeps players uptight, and causes mistakes, and it undermines a player's confidence. 6. Once JD hired Saleh to be the HC and the determination was to run the WCO offense, JD should either have not drafted Zach, or should have traded for a veteran QB and sat Zach for a year or two and given him time pressure-free to fix his fundamentals, learn the scheme, and adapt to a totally different mindset about how he played. This was a screw up on JD's part. To his credit, he now realizes and admits his mistake, which gives me some hope. Still a lot of damage has been done to Zach. Most of the fanbase has turned against him, some of the players have, and Zach has a hard hole out of which to climb. I hope that Hackett, the other new offensive coaches, Rodgers, and a hopefully more mature and humbled Zach, can resurrect Zach's career. He has too much talent to give up on. I totally agree that his story is not yet complete, and he definitely could follow in Alex Smith's footsteps.
Young QB's can't be immature. The job description is Leader and nobody follows a kid who doesn't set a great example. It's kind of one of the non-negotiable pieces of being an NFL QB. When you get a guy who is having difficulties in this regard it usually all falls apart for them at some point.
My two cents. Hard to argue with some of it be it from Smith or Young or RG III. I’m of the opinion that there is plenty of blame to go around on this one. He was drafted for his potential but he was a long, long way from prime time in the NFL. He was both immature as a leader and his style of free flowing mostly broken play reaction as the norm was the opposite of what it’s expected in the NFL. Add inexperience at OC and HC with rookies in offense and it was a formula for a disaster. He needed to sit and develop for a least a year behind a capable vet and a QB guru. You can argue he was over drafted based on that, but in any event the handling of his development after the untimely death of the QB guru was ill conceived. Anointing him as the starter without demonstrated ability in practice was the beginning of the end. I still hold hope that with the new QB and OC he will now see what it takes both mentally and physically to become a starter on this league. Unlike what many here believe, I think his mistakes on easy throws and ability to more accurately assess defenses is correctable with proper coaching and practice.
I agree with most of this, most especially the first paragraph…I also wanted Daboll for the same reason…an offensive guy who had already proven he knew how to develop a raw QB prospect (Josh Allen). He was my first choice. After so many defensive HCs we needed an offensive guy…it’s just that Gase was terrible regardless. I also agree that the coaching and OL situations were much less than ideal. I think my only difference is that I place a lot more of the blame on Zach than maybe you are doing…there were just too many basic things that he just fucked up…WAY too many off target throws…whether they were in the dirt, over receivers heads, behind receivers, etc. Way too many. He also had way too many plays where he flat out didn’t see or refused to throw to open receivers. Too many plays where he ran backwards for 20 yards. And too many plays where he just threw the ball up out of desperation (like that NE game). Sure better coaching would have helped, but I think he was successful in college doing those things…running around all over the place, relying on his rocket arm to hit throws at the last minute, whatever…but those games were not against NFL caliber defenses in terms of speed, athleticism, defensive scheme, etc., and it just hasn’t translated to the NFL. I don’t know if he can ever be fixed…much of his stuff is fundamental and those things are hard to fix. Not impossible. But hard. History is not on his side. His stats through two years are in the Josh Rosen and JaMarcus Russell range…that is, pretty terrible. Like bottom 2 or 3 in the league terrible. Not many (any?) QB’s have bounced back and developed into good QBs, let alone Franchise QBs. Just hasn’t happened. I think there are innate intangible skills that QBs need to be great … not just strong arms … they seem to have a sense of the pocket (Marino may have been the best ever), they have a sense of where players will be (Montana, Brady, Brees…), and they have a command of the game and the huddle. Sure it takes time to develop those mostly, but Zach has a long way to go. Then there’s the question of even if he can be fixed, can it happen here? We have AR for one, more likely two, or maybe even three years. By that time Zach’s contract will be up, and unless AR gets hurt, Zach ain’t gonna be getting much playing time. Most likely we don’t pick up his option, so he’s most likely gone. I hear all the talk about JD and Saleh having faith in Zach, but actions speak louder than words. Actions are they are NOT putting their careers here on the line with Zach at QB. They went out and got a HOF guy fully knowing that the timing and contracts mean that they likely won’t take the 5th year option on Zach. So to me, while they are saying all this stuff, and will work with him this year to see if he can show something in preseason and in practice, I don’t think they are looking at him as the long term answer. Anyway…we’ll see. He wasn’t exactly set up to succeed in the best way, I agree. But he owns a lot of the blame regardless. I truly hope sitting behind AR and a new OC helps get his head straight and the fundamentals improving, so we’ll see. I’m just not convinced it’ll happen.
You speak as if he did those things on purpose or just isn't talented enough. He didn't do those things on purpose, and he has plenty of talent. Zach was the second most accurate QB in college football his last season at BYU, and cupcake schedule or not, a QB doesn't complete as high a percentage of his passes as Zach did if he doesn't have the arm talent and ability to make all the throws. All things equal, one doesn't just lose the ability to be accurate because the level of competition is tougher. Something causes that drop in ability, like having to think too much, lost confidence in himself and perhaps the scheme or CS. IMO the things you list here are the results of a player thinking too much and having lost confidence. I'm sure that you have seen games where young players struggled and the announcers said that the player is having to think too much, which slows them down, makes them hesitant, and they wind up making mistakes. I'm equally certain that you're aware that when a player, especially a young QB is too worried about making a mistake, they wind up making more, and it affects their overall play. That is what I believe caused the mistakes you list above. I think your criticism would be valid if he were playing in basically the same offense in which he played at BYU or if the Jets' offense had been tailored to Zach's strengths and incorporated a lot of aspects of that BYU offense. We all know that didn't happen, however. Those things haven't translated because that's not what the Jets' WCO offense is. He showed vs the Titans his rookie season that it could translate, but it's pretty common knowledge that Saleh and MLF became concerned about TOs and winning moreso than Zach's development, and reigned in his creativity and tried to make more of a game manager out of him. Better coaching definitely would have helped, but imo there's more to it than that. I think the philosphy/approach and coaching that Zach received is largely responsible for his poor play. Some players can thrive no matter what, while others cannot. That doesn't make them less of a talent. I think the Jets CS had Zach trying to do too much at one time (change his mechanics, change his approach to playing the QB position, trying not to make mistakes, while preparing for each week's opponent, and master the most complex offense (or one of them) in the NFL. It takes years for a QB to master the WCO. At this point, I don't know if he can be fixed, either. Like David Carr was ruined by the pounding he took while playing for the Texans, Zach may be ruined. If he hasn't totally lost confidence in his abliity, then he has a chance. History may not be on his side, but it can and does happen. Alex Smith was pretty bad early while playing for defensive HCs. Peyton Manning was awful his rookie season. Josh Allen was pretty bad his rookie season and no one thought he could fix his accuracy, but he did. Yes, changing basic fundamentals is hard. It takes time and focused work. That's why it was insane for Saleh, MLF and JD to expect him to start day one when he needed to change his fundamentals to succeed in the WCO. Zach had that sense his last year at BYU, and I believe that he will develop that further with the Jets once his fundamentals are fixed, he gets more comfortable in this scheme, and his confidence is rebuilt. It's possible that he may just not be a good fit for the WCO and there may be too much pressure here or too many struggles here for him to ever succeed without having to go to another team and start afresh, but it could already be too late. Time will tell. It's also possible that he would never have lived up to his potential and become a FQB in the NFL, but I will never believe that. If he doesn't develop, I will always believe it's because the Jets screwed up yet again and ruined another player. Actions do speak louder than words, but imo your reasoning here is flawed. They would have been foolish, if not insane, to roll Zach back out there this year and expect a different result, especially since JD realized and admitted that he had made a mistake in not having a veteran here Zach's rookie season. At the end of last season, Zach's confidence was shot and he was a mess. Just thinking everything would be all better after an offseason would have been childish, fairy-tale like thinking. Their jobs are on the line. There is pressure to win and make the playoffs. They also knew that if Zach still had any chance to develop, that he needed to sit, and learn from a vet, and that he would need better coaching, time to fix his fundamentals and change is approach to playing QB free from the pressure of having to perform in games. I disagree that they believe or know that they likely won't pick up the option on Zach's contract. I firmly believe that they still believe in his talent, and believe that working with Hackett and Rodgers, Zach will reach his potential. Yes, we'll see. He owns SOME of the blame. Saying that he owns a lot of the blame is unrealistic, and unfair. He didn't ask to be drafted to play in an offense where his skills didn't fit or weren't a strength, but rather a weakness. He didn't ask to play for a rookie defensive HC, a rookie/clueless OC, and a rookie QB Coach. He didn't ask to be jerked around and to do the impossible (change his fundamentals, change his approach to playing, learn the most complicated offense in the NFL, and win while starting). We agree on this. I'm not convinced that things will still work out with Zach and the Jets, but I believe that he has a good chance, and that if things can work out for anyone in this situation, they will for Zach.
Alex Smith was a bum QB that was dropped by two teams that went to the Super Bowl immediately after he wasn't the starting QB. Who cares what he says.
I can at least see your side, but this I take issue with. Young kids are immature. Young QB’s are not. They can’t be. They walk into a room having to command grown ass men into their 30’s and 40’s. Maturity is the number one most important factor. Either don’t draft him or stash him on the bench until he grows up. But even then you don’t make an exception for immaturity at QB unless the guy has all world skills and physicality.. Zach does not have all world skills. He’s nowhere near comparable to Mahomes/Jackson/Allen/Murray in terms of toughness to run. He has nothing that makes overlooking his immaturity worthwhile.
I take issue as well. Young kids count their ages in single digits. Wilson was an adult by any definition, legal or otherwise, when he began playing in the NFL; he had already completed a degree program and was the same age as most students finishing an undergraduate degree program. It's too bad that this doesn't fit the Wilson-as-victim narrative of some here but it not only makes no sense, it underscores the immaturity he exhibited while being hired to be a leader.
