The New York Jets have made Zach Wilson their latest franchise quarterback, but head coach Robert Saleh is warning that fans shouldn’t expect a savior right away.
Wilson had what was described as an “uneven” practice performance on Monday, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. He held onto the ball too long during 7-on-7 drills and finished the day with a number of incompletions. That came as no big concern to Saleh, who told Pelissero that it was not unusual for a rookie to struggle like that.
“There’s a reason why being a rookie is hard in this league,” Saleh said. “There was a Hall of Famer yesterday [Peyton Manning] that was inducted that had a 71 quarterback rating his rookie year. It’s not easy to play quarterback in this league as a rookie, especially quarterback. But it is going to get worse before it gets better. But he’s at that point now where he’s going to be able to stack up days. We have the utmost confidence in him and his ability and his ability to figure out the mistakes and correct them and get to a better play.”
Wilson’s case hasn’t been helped by a brief contract standoff that led him to miss a couple days of camp. That, combined with adapting to the NFL, is going to lead to some uninspiring moments. The Jets don’t expect that to last, though expect some questions to arise if the rookie quarterback still looks shaky during preseason games.
