Why watching the Jets lose gives me hope for Zach Wilson’s future

No one has ended up benefiting more from the Jets' four-game losing streak than Zach Wilson.

Wilson, the former BYU quarterback, was playing for this Jets squad last year before he was traded to the Denver Broncos. Wilson had to shoulder all the pressure of not only lifting a Jets team that was desperate to make the playoffs, but also replacing an injured Aaron Rodgers.

When he isn't visiting LaVell Edwards Stadium to watch BYU pull off a thrilling 38-35 last-minute comeback against Oklahoma State, Wilson is traveling with a Broncos team that is playing above expectations.

With its fourth win against the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football, the Broncos are beating expectations and are already one game away from matching the predicted win total Conor Orr of SI gave them in the preseason.

On the Denver Broncos, Wilson is removed from all the pressure that clouded his career. Instead of living under a microscope that starters have, he is the third- string quarterback with the responsibility of being the emergency quarterback if any injuries happen.

With less responsibility, Wilson has the chance to become the coveted pocket passer with the ability to throw accurate deep bombs that everyone saw while he played at BYU. He can focus solely on his develop and not have to worry about becoming the hero of New York.

Meanwhile, Rodgers is left facing the pressure that loomed over Wilson across his three years in New York. He has to be that hero.

With the Jets losing on primetime the last two weeks, both on SNF against the Steelers and MNF against the Bills, the pressure has grown even more from last year and I can't imagine if Wilson had to deal with this.

With the Steelers winning against the Jets 37-15 amongst Rodgers and Davante Adams reuniting, the excuses are growing thinner by the minute.

Last week in one of the most penalized games of the season, the Jets actually had a chance to win against the Bills at home. It wouldn't just be an ordinary win either. With a win, the Jets would tie with the Bills for first place in the division. In order to do that though, the Jets would need to convert a third-and-16 at their own 40 with less than three minutes to go.

With the ball snapped, Rodgers was looking to throw deep and I was ready for a miracle. After all, Rodgers was able to get his fourth successful Hail Mary of his career when he somehow found Lazard right before the half.

So when the camera panned to an open Mike Williams, I assumed the Jets were finally going to have some luck on their side.

Well, I guess fate had other plans.

Instead, Rodgers and Williams were out of sync; a phrase that has often described the Jets' offense.

The Jets are still losing even with Wilson gone. In fact the Jets had a better record at this point in the season with Wilson, their former No. 2 overall pick in the draft. He had a 4-3 record last year compared to the 2-5 start to the season Rodgers and company has.

What happened? This was supposed to be the year the Jets won the AFC division for the first time since 2002 and become Super Bowl contenders. Rodgers and Garrett Wilson would be one of the best duos in the league and Breece Hall would run down everyone’s throats.

Instead, I saw the same old Jets. Despite the new face at quarterback replacing Wilson, the Jets still looked stagnant and lifeless on offense.

After the most recent loss against the Steelers, Rodgers and company now have scored 128 points for the season: a whopping two points more than a Wilson-led Jets did last year.

Trading away Wilson wasn't going to immediately fix this team and it was naive of the Jets to think so. With Rodgers, the Jets offensive woes are still very apparent.

Without Wilson to blame and scapegoat, the Rodgers-led offense is only 22nd in the league in scoring average and somehow, the rushing attack has declined all the way to third worse in the league and that's not even factoring in the blowout loss to the Steelers where they only managed 54 total rushing yards.

The defense still is carrying this team just as it did last year. Before allowing the Steelers 37 points, it ranked second in least amount of passing yards allowed and had the fourth most sacks of the year.

Back then, the answer to fix these offensive issues was to bench Wilson and move on from him. Now the answers (and yes there are many) is to:

• fire Robert Salem
• promote defensive coordinater Jeff Ulbrich to interim head coach 
• demote Nathaniel Hackett from play-calling duties 
• acquire Rodgers' long time teammate and all-pro receiver Davante Adams in a trade… Oh, and fix that Hasson Reddick holdout too if there’s time. 

Well, if these are the problems facing the Jets this year, then explain to me why, when Wilson had to play under Saleh and Hackett’s direction, it only felt like he got the blame? If the offense needs to trade for Adams now, doesn’t that mean Wilson needed him last year?

If the Jets struggles still exist with a future Hall of Fame Quarterback, then I think it is fair to say that Wilson’s problems, to a certain extent, are a product of an organization that has struggled to give quarterbacks the proper environment to thrive in.

With the Jets still facing multiple issues on offense, I am ready to give Wilson a chance if I'm another team.

I believe that Wilson, by getting away from the Jets organization that gave up on him, will regrow confidence in himself while learning from offensive-minded coach Sean Payton.

A fresh start is going to be very beneficial for Wilson as it will provide him more stability than his turbulent experience with the Jets.

After falling short of expectations in his second year, Wilson was expected to learn and develop behind Rodgers as he became the backup QB. But after Rodgers tore his Achillles, Wilson was named the starter for the rest of the season.

Still, Wilson never really got the chance to truly develop behind Rodgers due to his injury. Instead of watching a superstar play in practice and watch him perform on the big stage, Wilson got to see Rodgers rehabbing his injury.

Instead, Wilson had to go back out and focus on trying to learning while playing.

While Wilson was still considered one of the worst QB's of 2023, he still did show improvement in his third season by improving his completion percentage to 60% as well as get his highest QB rating of his career at 77.2 all behind a Jets offensive line that allowed the fourth most sacks that season.

However, it was clear that the Jets had lost faith in him as he got benched for the second time in his career for Tim Boyle.

While it’s going to be required of him to sit behind rookie QB Bo Nix and QB Jarrett Stidham for the time being, taking two steps back may be best for Wilson if he wants to be able to take a step in the right direction and improve as a quarterback.

After all, former Jets QB’s Geno Smith and Sam Darnold are proving that taking a step back can pave the way for a much brighter future.

After going 12-21 with the Jets, Geno Smith had to wait four years hopping around as a backup QB before getting another chance to play. That chance was with the Seattle Seahawks as it traded away longterm starter Russell Wilson.

Since Smith started, he has been to the Pro-Bowl twice and has won 2022 comeback player of the year. He has thrown a 67.8% completion rate over the last 38 regular season games he’s played along with 56 touchdowns, 26 interceptions and 9,684 passing yards.

Against the Falcons, Smith played his 39th game as Seattle's starter and won 34-14. Currently, the Seahawks (4-3) are first in their division with Smith being a big reason why.

When he was on the Jets, it was a different story. Across his first 30 games in the league, he had a 57.75% completion rate to go along with 25 touchdowns, 34 interceptions and only 5,571 yards.

Sam Darnold had little success with the Jets as he was labeled one of five worst starting QB’s entering his year in Carolina following a 2-14 record with the Jets. He had varying success with the Panthers as he had a 4-7 record in his first season and a 4-2 record in his second.

Last year, he sat behind Brock Purdy as a backup, but was brought in to compete for the Vikings starting QB job after the unexpected departure of Kirk Cousins. Due to an injury from rookie QB JJ McCarthy, Darnold was named the starter and entered the season with low expectations.

However, people's perceptions changed quickly.

While it is still early to compare stats due to Darnold only have six starts for the Vikings, he already has his highest completion rating of his career with 66.5, his TD:INT ratio is the best he's ever had at 12:5 and his quarterback rating of 104 is the highest of his career.

On top of that, the Vikings (5-1) were the last undefeated NFC team with him as the quarterback.

Those two guys having the success they are having is why I still have hope Wilson can have a career despite all the rough times he had with the Jets. They may have had losing records and unimpressive stats, but both Smith and Darnold stuck with it and were able to come out better as a result.

With future teams like the Browns, Raiders, Titans, Giants and potentially other teams having a need for a quarterback soon (I'm looking at you Dolphins), maybe Wilson can be given a second chance by one of these teams.

Wilson’s tenure at the Broncos, while most likely boring for the time being, can lead to new opportunities.