The New York Jets may be meeting with veteran quarterbacks this offseason, but they haven’t given up on Zach Wilson, according to Joe Douglas, the team’s general manager.
Douglas told reporters Tuesday that Jets coaches are “excited” to “get with Zach and start working” and still believe in his skills.
“Our stance on Zach hasn’t changed. We feel like Zach has a very high ceiling. Obviously the first two years haven’t played out the way that anybody’s hoped. But we still feel like there’s a very high ceiling with Zach,” Douglas said during a press conference tied to the NFL combine.
Douglas’ comments come after a tough second season for Wilson, who was benched midway through the Jets’ 2022 campaign and then again late in the year after he had reclaimed the starting spot.
The Jets’ offensive coordinator for the 2022-23 season, Mike LaFleur, acknowledged in early January that Wilson would have benefitted from opportunities to learn from a veteran quarterback during his first two years in the league.
“In hindsight, it probably would’ve benefitted (him) 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,” LaFleur said, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Now, the Jets are seriously considering taking that approach in Wilson’s third year.
So far this offseason, they’ve met with former Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, and they’ve been rumored to be interested in trading for Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
For his part, Wilson has said he won’t go down quietly if a veteran quarterback joins the Jets and tries to take the starting quarterback job.
“I’m going to go out there and do my best to show the coaches I deserve to be there. It’s not in a negative way, it’s a positive way. It’s making everybody better hopefully and you just attack every single day,” he said during an end-of-season press conference in January.
Douglas said Tuesday that Wilson’s passion for football is one reason why he feels confident that the quarterback has brighter days ahead.
“In my time in the league, I’ve found that when players love this game and when players work their tails off, they usually hit their ceiling, and so we feel like Zach definitely has those traits,” he said.