The Answer on Zach Wilson is Crystal Clear

 It’s time for the Jets to move on from Zach Wilson. His time as a Jet has come to an end. No matter what the former number two overall pick does on Thursday Night Football against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he could play like Patrick Mahomes against Jacksonville—he still must go.

And this is not to say that Zach Wilson is a bust.

There are two former Jet quarterbacks who are playing well for other teams this season and additionally, we’ve seen countless other quarterbacks figure it out in a place where they weren’t drafted and years down the line.

It is time for Woody Johnson, Joe Douglas, and Robert Saleh to admit they got it wrong with Wilson and move quickly to sign a veteran quarterback to help steward this team to their fullest potential. I’m not saying anything Jets fans don’t already know if their hearts—the only thing holding the 2022-23 New York Jets back is the quarterback under center. Zach Wilson is a big part of that but even with folk hero Mike White, he was the signal caller in two games recently that were extremely winnable that the Jets ultimately lost. If the Jets had a handful of other good or great quarterbacks on truly bad teams be the quarterback for the Jets—gang green might have 10 wins already going into Christmas weekend. The Jets have three, potentially four generational players (Quinnen Williams, Sauce Gardner, and maybe Breece Hall [Hall has only played seven games give him more time], and Gerrett Wilson) all of which are on rookie contracts. Williams has one more year on his rookie deal before he hits free agency, but a rookie contract, nonetheless. Building around Zach Wilson in theory is the way to go because having a cheap good quarterback on a playoff caliber team is the most valuable asset in the NFL—the only problem is that Zach Wilson isn’t any good! The rest of the team is good, really good, and with the parody in the NFL from year to year, nothing is a given in football. Long runs of success like Kansas City, who clinched their 7th straight division title, or the run Brady-Belichick Patriots went on from the beginning of the millennium to 2019, or the Cowboys of the mid-90’s, but that is not the norm.

A “Championship Window” in the NFL is maybe two or three years and that’s it. The Jets with Zach Wilson this year are on their way to wasting year one of this golden chance. They cannot afford to waste any more time because a group of players like this might not come around for another decade. Regardless of what Wilson does on Thursday or beyond, based on the health of Mike White, everyone in the Jets universe have their answer on Zach Wilson. The quarterback of the now forget the future, is not currently suiting up for the New York Jets. I can hear a ton of Jet fans screaming “wait, wait, wait, Joe, what about Mike White? He’s our answer!”

Well, as for the future of the aforementioned Warrior Mike White, he is a quality backup. That’s who he is, someone you are comfortable with keeping the team afloat while the starter is out. He’s not a starting quarterback. However, the Jets should keep him as their back up next season and for the foreseeable future. White’s currently getting paid $2.5 Million this season, will be a free agent after the season, and going into his age 28 season the Jets should bring him back for the next four years on a base salary of $5 Million, plus incentives. A deal like that is comparable to the average salary of a backup quarterback in the NFL right now. It would put him under the class of Jimmy Garoppolo, Case Keenum, and Tyrod Taylor salary wise and too me right now that is where Mike White should be.

For the hopes of the team right now, the playoffs start against Jacksonville and the best football this team has played must start on Thursday. Anything less will sink and sour such a promising season. Even though it didn’t start that way in training camp, the Jets were the best team in the AFC East at one point this season, and now they are in the cellar of the division, but still have an opportunity to extend their season. Even with the future on Zach Wilson decided, he has to play well enough to win these games to get to playoff football.

He showed he could do that against Detroit, but of course, in classic Jet fashion, the dominate defense let their guard down when it mattered most and snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.

But that’s a young team for you. The Jets are a young inexperienced team. Over the past month, the Jets have had games where they have had to learn how to win, and they haven’t found the answers yet. Gang Green needs to be a quick study because they are running out of time and the future of the organization depends on it. Will Zach Wilson help these Jets be the same ole Jets or something Jet Nation hasn’t seen in a LONG time.     

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