No one would give the Jets shit for picking TL with the first pick. He was the consensus #1 pick. Zack at #2 was highly debated.
I think they're close - really close. I like the attitude and the culture of this team...I think Zach Wilson will take flight this season putting all debate to rest as to did they get the QB position right, and I believe they're knocking on the doorstep. If they can win their opener against Baltimore - which is not as impossible as many pundits think - and also pull another upset or two along the way, I could see this 2022 team still being alive for the season's final month. I think at bare minimum this is an 8-win team, with an upset or 2 they could spring 9 or 10 wins out of the season and be the AFC team nobody saw coming.
Zach as the number 2 pick was only debated in the media by the talking heads. Among NFL scouts Zach was the consensus number 2 pick. Albert Breer surveyed 23 teams before the draft and all 23 had Zach ranked as their 2nd rated player behind TL. Only the know nothing, page hit, click bait, media frauds like Kiper pretended there was a debate.
If they can manage to stay healthy? YES. The Jets probably would have been much better last season if they didn't ravaged with injuries. My point is not so much injuries as it is the Jets lack depth. They've always lacked depth. This offseason JD fixed a huge part of the depth issues, but there are still depth problems remaining in a few position groups on the team. So my point is not so much to say they need to stay healthy. That's obvious and it's a constant for every NFL team. The Jets really can't have that next man up approach to things. Because they have depth issues, just a few select injuries and this teams dreams of playoffs are gone. So honestly if the Jets can be about twice as healthy as they've been over the last 4 year span at least, they WILL be playing Games with playoff implications in December and January....
How badly did I want Zach Wilson? I wanted him to be a Jet so much that until Jacksonville took TL it was only then I breathed a sigh of relief.
there is no way I believe this to be a fact with actual NFL GMs. No way. Maybe some media draft analysts types looking for clickbait. but there is no way in hell any NFL team with the number one pick would have chosen Wilson over TL. TL is bigger, had more success at a much better program against much tougher competition and for a longer period of time, won a national title while Zach had one good season at a lower level school against weaker competition. so sorry…I do not believe there would have been ANY team who would have drafted Zach over Trevor. Not saying Zach wasn’t a good prospect, but to claim that some prominent analysts said he’s better I think is just clickbait. There was NO debate about who would go #1. None. Zero. The world knew it was TL. There was no debate like there was way back with Peyton vs. Ryan Leaf. Shit…we were all pissed at Gase for winning a couple games late exactly because that cost us TL and we all knew it. so yah…I’ll believe some media types out there may have said stuff like that for attention, but it wasn’t ever a serious opinion by people who actually make those decisions. And even then most media analysts had TL as the top guy anyway.
I'm pretty sure there's more to evaluating talent than sorting out who played for a bigger program, but OK.
I disagree this is an easy start Ravens At Browns Bengals At Steelers that’s pretty rough in my book historically the Ravens and Steelers own us. If Lamar is healthy I think we lose that game. At the Browns needs to be a win but if Watson plays it won’t be easy. There’s a chance because of rust and then again the Browns are as much of a clusterfuck as we’ve been so we have a shot here. Bengals won’t overlook us this time but hey we beat them last year maybe we can do it again. At Pitt will be hard we always lose there…I think we’ve only won there once in the last 20 years. I get their QB situation is weak but their D is strong and they are always well coached. if we come out of this start 2-2 I will be super happy as I’m more expecting 1-3.
Yes, I would have without even a second thought. I felt at the time - and still feel that 10 years down the road - that Zach Wilson will end up being the best QB from that draft.
Tim Jenkins was the biggest name that ranked Zach 1st and arguably Jenkins is the best QB guru. But to my knowledge no team had Zach ahead of TL but no team had him below number 2. Allegedly many teams had it very close but the Breer survery had 23 of 23 teams ranking Zach as the 2nd best prospect.
And we all know how GMs are infallible. And it's easy in hindsight for a GM to say "I would've definitely taken Lawrence first". It doesn't cost them anything, it's not going to create any controversy, something GMs like to avoid like the plague. But if they were actually on the clock, maybe a few would've NOT taken Lawrence. I'm pretty sure there were a few teams with GMs who would've taken Zach first, besides the Jets. We'll never know.
Oh stop. Lawrence was the best QB prospect since Andrew Luck, there is 0 debate about that. He won a national championship as a true freshman and put together 3 straight years of great play while improving every single year, along with having basically no physical or character concerns. Wilson had one great year against lesser competition along with a fairly concerning injury history. I'm a big Wilson fan (as I think is obvious based on my avatar) but this is some crazy revisionist history acting like he was a better prospect than Lawrence. There may have been a handful of analysts who preferred him over Lawrence but that's true of any two prospects ever, that doesn't mean it was remotely close to a consensus opinion.
Nobody predicted Zach to be better than TL except to get views during draft season. With only one solid year in a weak division they'd be a pretty stupid analyst to make that call. But then again, this was the draft where a guy who only had 11 college starts went 3rd overall.
Do you think poor GM decision-making is limited to the Jets? Because I know for a fact that you have witnessed firsthand the Jets making worse personnel choices than having to choose between TL and ZW at the first pick.
