Zach Wilson is making progress, officially climbing his way back up to the active gameday roster for the New York Jets.
No, you didn’t read that wrong. Being a backup quarterback is actually progress for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know the 2022-23 season has been a tumultuous one for Wilson. The 23-year-old helped lead the Jets to a great start at 5-2 as they entered a pivotal Week 8 matchup with the New England Patriots. Over the course of the following four weeks, New York would drop a pair of games to New England in which Wilson combined to complete only 46% of his passes, throwing three interceptions and a pair of touchdowns.
What ensued was about as bad a media performance as you could ask for out of a starting quarterback. Wilson handled the entire situation poorly, deflecting questions and putting those around him in a bad position. He defiantly disagreed with the notion that he was to blame, ultimately making his teammates look and feel terrible.
From that point, Jets head coach Robert Saleh had no choice but to pull Wilson back and go in another direction.
Since the decision to bench Wilson, the Jets have started Mike White — who has held onto the job despite being 1-2 on the year. Injuries to White have brought up questions as to whether New York would consider suiting up Wilson, who has been a healthy inactive for the last three weeks, on an emergency basis. Without much of a choice, Saleh named Wilson as the backup.
With his newfound role, Wilson faced questions about whether he believed he was still the future in New York. Spoiler alert: he does.
“Yeah, I definitely believe in myself,” Wilson told reporters, per Pro Football Talk. “Of course I have all the confidence in the world. I think that’s how it should be. But you’ve got to be able to prove that.”
At the end of the day, Saleh has made it clear the Jets plan on moving forward with White. But now, New York is now just one play away from needing to thrust Wilson back into the lineup.
