In a surprising admission this week, Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said that Zach Wilson might have benefited from not starting under center right away early in his career and learning from a veteran.
“In hindsight, it probably would’ve benefited [him],” LaFleur said on the second-year quarterback. “Just to sit back and learn a little bit and watch a veteran and just kind of grow in this league kind of in the backseat watching and getting better in practice and getting better through scout team and all that. Again, that wasn’t the course that we went and from here we have to pick it up, pick up the scraps and get back to work.”
His comments come a day after coach Robert Saleh said the team would maximize Wilson’s ability “through hell or high water.”
Wilson, the second overall pick in the 2021 draft, has struggled in his two NFL seasons and he still remains a question mark on whether he can be the guy or will be labeled a huge bust.
Wilson has been benched twice this season because of poor performance and has fell out of favor so much that he is not even making the trip to Florida with the team on Sunday.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
LaFleur also pointed to his promising performance in preseason last year that did not help matters as everybody wanted to crown him as the next big thing.
“I think everyone wanted to crown him after that first preseason,” LeFleur said. “He was playing pretty good football through that. We’re going to have to look back and see what … not necessarily red flags, but what indicators were there that said he wasn’t ready. We’ve just got to learn from it and we will.”
He’s played in 22 games, has an 8-14 record. In those games, he has completed just 55.2 percent of his passes for 4,022 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. He has thrown for just 1,688 yards and six touchdowns to seven interceptions in his 13 starts this season.
Wilson had high expectations to be a star in New York, but now it’s a question of if he will even be their quarterback going forward.
