We gathered around the television Thursday night to watch the Hall of Fame game because we are sadists, gambling addicts, hopelessly bored or curious about the one lingering football question one can start to have answered on a night like this: Is Zach Wilson salvageable?
It’s far too big a question to tackle in one night, of course. Wilson, especially with Aaron Rodgers ahead of him on the depth chart, will have plenty of audition time this summer. He will have better moments than we saw against the Browns. As a streaky quarterback for most of his professional career, this will be a streaky preseason.
Wilson went 3-of-5 for 65 yards. His most memorable highlight was a deep pass to Malik Taylor down the home sideline. After a few rewatches, it’s difficult to tell whether the throw was almost perfect and Taylor just had a slightly difficult time locating the ball, or if the throw was far from perfect, and Taylor’s last-minute, forward-bending contortion was evident of an overthrown pass. Personally, I thought his best completion may have been his first, which was the kind of decisive, intermediate read throw that he could miss from time to time in search of a bigger play over the past two seasons. Wilson had some critical down passes batted to the ground. He tripped on a smart no-throw and subsequent scramble, which didn’t result in a converted first down. It wasn’t hard to envision a cruel headline or two, but let’s allow ourselves to think bigger for one second. Let’s ignore the question we came here to get answered.
David Richard/AP
If—and I understand it’s a big if—the Jets are able to get something out of Wilson after the Rodgers era is finished, it would say more about how far the franchise has truly come than whatever it manages to do with a stacked roster and a future Hall of Fame quarterback. Development of young passers, be it Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, Christian Hackenberg or Sam Darnold, doesn’t just speak to the person. It is a very big, holistic undertaking. It is a coaching staff, a public relations team, an owner, a president, a marketing team. It is the culmination of a lot of thought and care. There are usually reasons why certain franchises get it right, and certain franchises get it wrong. The Jets have historically gotten it wrong more often than not, regardless of coach, coordinator or scheme.
I don’t think anyone is in the mood to read a long list of excuses for Wilson, especially now. This is supposed to be the one season when the quarterback position gets to be put on mental autopilot, and we can all complain about something else for once. But Wilson didn’t make himself the No. 2 pick.
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The Jets organization watched Wilson’s college film, how he had more time in the backfield than a Betty White retrospective and more open targets than the novice hunting mode on Oregon Trail. They got all of the relevant testing information. They did the personal interviews. They had access to his coaches, his friends, his family members, his teammates, his opponents. With that information, they decided that Wilson could fit into an offense that is most commonly run effectively by older passers who are more decisive and used to following certain rules.
It’s entirely within their right to cast Wilson aside when that gamble didn’t work out (and I do think they treated him fairly enough during that time and waited for a fair sample size). But there is something admirable about giving him another chance to rectify that situation and to give themselves, organizationally, the chance to rectify it before Wilson becomes another pelt on their wall of misfit draftees. There is something admirable about Wilson giving it a shot, too.
I’m not already wishing the Aaron Rodgers era away, but if the Jets were to somehow both find success with Rodgers and turn Wilson into a useful player for the franchise after Rodgers is off opening for Bon Iver at Pitchfork, it would be among the most important moments in franchise history. Not only could they handle the entire cacophony that comes with Super Bowl expectations and mercurial talent, but they could also nurture. They could develop. They could not just give up. I would be infinitely more encouraged by that than an ability to simply acquire players, which any team can do.
I think Wilson, from a personality standpoint, has been given a raw deal. Painting him as petulant or, thanks to one misunderstood moment at a press conference podium, afraid of taking responsibility, misses the entire point we’re making about this being bigger than one person (never mind the larger point of allowing someone to grow into their responsibility and personality). As the Giants across town showed with Daniel Jones, not all is lost even when it looks that way. Wilson didn’t move us in that direction Thursday night, but he has some more time to do so. It could be a gift. Potentially, a telling one.
